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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



CALIFORNIA FRUITS 



CALIFORNIA FRUITS 

AND HOW TO GROW THEM 

FOURTH EDITION REVISED AND EXTENDED 



A Manual of Methods which have yielded the Greatest Success; with Lists 

of Varieties best adapted to the different districts 

of the State of California. 



BY EDWARD J.t^ WICKSON, A. M. 



Dean and Professor of Agriculture in the College of Agriculture of the University of California; Director and Hortic 
University Agricultural Experimeut Station; author of "California Vegetables in Garden and Field:" 
Editor Pacific Rural Press; member National Council of Horticulture^ etc. 



' The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear, 
And verdant olives flourish round the year ; 
The balmy spirit of the western gale 
Eternal breathes on fruits untaught to fail ; 
Each dropping pear a following pear supplies, 
On apples, apples, figs on figs arise : 
The same mild season gives the blooms to blow. 
The buds to harden, and the fruits to grow." 

Pope's Horn. Odys. Bk. VII. 



^ 



SAN FRANCISCO: 
THE PACIFIC RURAL PRESS, PUBLISHER 
1909. 



Copyrighted, 1908, by 

Edward J. Wickson and The Pacific Rural Press. 

Published December, 1908. 

All rights reserved. 



LIBRARY of congress] 


Two CODies 


Received 


UEC 17 


1906 


,A Oopyri»iit 


i(n 


CLASS O- 

COPY 


XXc, Wo, 



The Kruckeberg Press, Horticaltural Printers and Engravers 
Los Angeles, California 




LUTHER BURBANK. 



TO LUTHER BURBANK, 

OF SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA, 

Whose creative horticultural genius 
has by new coinage of " Blooming, 
ambrosial fruit of vegetable gold," 
amply requited the world's gift of 
the choicest flowers and fruits for the 
advancement and adornment of Cal- 
ifornia—thus bestowing new honors 
upon the State and new riches upon 
mankind — this work is cordially in- 
scribed as an exponent of esteem 
and appreciation. 



PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 

THIS treatise on California fruit growing, which now appears in its fourth edition 
is in a way a reflection of the beginnings, the development, and the present 
greatness of the fruit industries of a State which leads all the States of the Union in 
the breadth and variety of horticultural production, as well as in the amount of 
capital invested therein, and the income derived from such investment. The first 
edition of the work, which appeared in 1889 as the result of several years diligent 
labor, reflected the historical mood which prevailed at that time, and gave much at- 
tention to details of early deeds and experiences which the pioneers, many of whom 
were at that time still active, considered the proper foundation for more extended 
efforts. The welcome which greeted the first edition was surprisingly appreciative, 
and in little more than a year the whole edition of two thousand copies was sold, 
chiefly vidthin the boundaries of the State. So sharp was the demand that the work 
was wholly reset, with some additions but otherwise with little change in the text, 
and the second edition appeared in 1891. This edition began to attract attention in 
other semi-tropical countries where people were desirous of growing fruits as Cali- 
fornia grew them, so that the work began to have a world sale, though in the limited 
way which is usually open to technical treatises. There was, however, a quiet time 
in California land and fruit planting investments in the early years of the last de- 
cade of the last century, and the second edition sold more slowly than the first, but 
still reached the end of the supply about 1897. By this time, so many changes had 
crept into California methods and so many points of view had changed, the writer 
himself gaining better insight and knowledge, that work began in 1898 upon a re- 
vision which nearly amounted to a complete rewriting, in the course of which his- 
torical matters were largely eliminated and fuller attention paid to details of methods 
which were becoming more rational and better suited to the great industry which 
had been fairly entereil upon. The third edition appeared in 1900, found a demand 
similar to that for the second edition, and was exhausted just before the San Fran- 
cisco fire of 1906, which destroyed all the material used in printing earlier editions, 
part of which it was intended to use in the present edition, and some new material 
specially collected for it. Immediately after the fire the demand for the book re- 
asserted itself but it was not possible to proceed at once with the work, although the 
writer continued the collection of data, and conducted systematic inquiries in order 
that up-to-date practices might be understood and correlated. In the spring of the 
present year arrangements were made by the author and his publishers. The Pacific 



PART FOUR : THE GRAPE. 

25 The Grape Industry in California 231 

26 Propagating and Planting Vines 233 

27 Pruning and Care of the Vine 245 

28 Grape Varieties in California 255 

PART FIVE : SKMI-TROPICAI, FRUITS. 

29 Date Culture in our Desert Areas 265 

30 The Fig : the Grandest Fruit Tree of California 269 

3 1 The Olive and its Growth in California 279 

32 The Orange: King of California Fruit 294 

33 The Pomelo or Grape Fruit in California 319 

34 The Lemon and Minor Citrus Fruits 321 

35 Standard Packs for Citrus Fruits 329 

36 Minor Semi-Tropical Fruits in California 333 

PART SIX : SMALL FRUITS. 

37 Berries and Currants in California 343 

PART SEVEN : NUTS 

38 Nut Growing in California 357 

PART EIGHT : FRUIT PRESERVATION. 

39 Fruit Canning, Crystallizing and Preserving 373 

PART NINE : FRUIT PROTECTION. 

40 California Methods with Injurious Insects 387 

41 Diseases of Trees and Vines 404 

42 Suppression of Injurious Animals and Birds 410 

43 Protection from Wind and Frost 413 

PART TEN : MISCELLANEOUS. 

44 utilization of Fruit Wastes 419 

Topical Index 423 



FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 

The Calimyrna (Genuine Smyrna) Fig, in color natural size .Frontispiece 

Portrait of Luther Burbank (j 

From Oranges to Snow : a southern California scene 2.5 

A block of one hundred thousand Seedling Citrus Trees 49 • 

English Walnut Seedlings 61- 

Citrus Tree budded to twenty-two different varieties 73 

Apricot Thinning in the Santa Clara valley 105 

Apricot Trees with and without Cultivation 113 

Check System Irrigating a Walnut Grove in Summer 121. 

Check System Irrigating a Walnut Grove in Winter 129 ' 

Irrigating Cement Ditches with Division Gates I'ST' 

Machine for making Cement Pipe 145 "^ 

Irrigating an Orange Grove situated on a hillside . : 149 • 

Marshall's Red : a California Apple 161^ 

Cook's Seedling : a California Apple 169 

Albright's Cling : a California Peach 193 

McKevitt's Cling : a California Peach 201 

The Plumcot, natural size 219 

The Santa Rosa Plum, natural Size 220 

The Formosa Plum, in natural colors 225 

A Young Vineyard in the San Joaquin valley 241 

The Gros Colman grape 256 

.The Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) 267 

Views of Calimyrna (Genuine Smyrna) Fig Orchards 273 

Fig Drying on the Roeding Place in the San Joaquin valley 277 

Four poDular varieties of the Olive 289 

A perfectly grown budded Citrus tree 297 

A typical Washington Navel Orange Grove 305 ' 

The Triumph Pomelo (Grape Fruit) 321 

Two Lemon Groves : showing clean culture jnd a cover crop 325 

The Victor Loquat : a California variety 337 

The Loganberry : a California hybrid 353 

The Paper Shell Pecan 369 

California sunshine Evaporator with necessary buiWings 378 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

Tins treatise has enjoyed from its first appearance, the most 
srenerous appreciation of Californians who have accepted 
it as the visible expression of their efforts, their sacrifices and 
their successes. They have in fact manifested toward the wort 
a generosity so warm that it has seemed to transcend patriotic 
regard and enter the higher region of affectionate feeling — 
some tokens of which the writer has numbered among the 
greatest joys of his life, and the strongest incentives to greater 
effort. In the progress of the revision and enrichment of the 
fourth edition it has been the intention of the writer to give 
personal credit in the text to those who have appeared to him as 
original sources of factor suggestion, but in making so many 
citations errors or omissions may have occured and for such 
lapses pardon is asked. 

The writer desires to especially acknowledge the generosity 
with which pictorial material has been placed at his disposal. 
He has been given freedom in his use of plant portraits, illus- 
trations of culture methods, etc., by horticultural institutions, 
by nurserymen and propagators, and by growers and fruit hand- 
lers in all parts of the state. Only a part of such material could 
be used but the same thanks belong to all whose tenders were 
received. Most available pictures were found in the rich collec- 
tions of Mr. R. M. Teague, who has at San Dimas, Los Angeles 
County, what is believed to be the greatest citrus tree nursery in 
the world. In deciduous lines heaviest draft was made upon 
the collection of Mr. George C. Roeding of Fresno, whose emi- 
nence both as a nurseryman and culturist will be obvious to any 
one who reads the text. Several excellent fruit portraits are 
taken from the publications of Mr. F. H. Wilson of the 
Fresno Nureries. Aside from such free use of private property 
the writer has probably over drawn his citizen's right to public 
property in the reproduction of plates and text engravings 
which are original with the United States Department of Agri- 
culture, and the Experiment Station of the University of Cali- 
fornia, in the lines along which the writer had the distinction 
of collaboration with these institutions. 



PART ONE: GENERAL. 



CALIFORNIA FRUITS 



CHAPTER I 

THE CLIMATE OF CALIFORNIA AND ITS LOCAL MODIFICATIONS 



IX climatic conditions affecting horticulture 
we have in California almost an epitome 
of the whole United States, with added clim- 
atic characters peculiarly our own. We have 
high mountain valleys with wintry tempera- 
ture-conditions, where only hardy northern 
fruits can be grown ; we have hot valleys 
where the date palm confidently lifts its head 
to the fiery sunshine, while its feet are deeply 
planted in moist substrata beneath the sandy 
surface ; but we cannot claim tropical condi- 
tions, because our dry air denies vis many 
strictly tropical growths, although we have 
frostless sites for them. Intermediate be- 
tween the cold and snow of the mountains 
and the heat and sand of the desert, we have 
every describable modification and gradation, 
and, naturally, it is between these extremes 
that our richest inheritance of horticultural 
adaptation lies. 

When this breadth and scope of our horti- 
cultural adaptations is realized, it becomes ap- 
parent that an enumeration of the fruits we 
can grow successfully would be, in fact, a 
catalogue of the known fruits of the world, 
except those which are strictly tropical. 
Wherever there is a northern or southern 
departure from the equator sufficient to bring 
energy to mankind, or where the same is ac- 
complished by elevation upon tropical moun- 
tainside or plateau, there also are fruits which 
find a welcoming home in California, and are 
improved by the intelligent cultivation and 
selection which here prevail. (Jn the other 



hand, it has been abundantly demonstrated, 
during recent years, by oflScial awards at 
great exhibitions and by the sharp criteria of 
the markets as well, that the fruits of wintry 
regions are quite as much benefited by trans- 
fer to proper locations in California as are 
the people who come to grow them. From 
north and south alike, then, California makes 
grand acquisitions and includes within her 
area the adaptations of the whole country, 
with some which no other State possesses. 

But while this horticultural scope is claimed 
for the State as a whole, it is necessary to 
add that local adaptations within the State 
must be very narrowly drawn. Our greatest 
failures have followed ill choice of location for 
the' purpose intended. Whenever certain Cali- 
fornia fruits have been ill spoken of, they 
have been produced in the wrong places, or 
by ill-advised methods. It is possible, then, 
to produce both poor and perfect fruit of a 
given kind. It niay be said this can be done 
anywhere by the extremes of culture and neg- 
lect, but to this proposition it must be added 
that in California equally excellent methods 
and care may produce perfection in one place 
and the opposite in another. One who seeks 
to know California well must undertake to 
master both its horticultural greatness and 
littleness ; and so closely are these associated, 
and so narrow the belts of special adaptations, 
that there are many counties which have a 
range of products nearly as great as the State 
itself. 



Climatic Peculiarities 



18 



California Fruits : 



It is hard for the stranger to realize this. 
It is difficult for him to beHeve that the terms 
"northern" and "southern" have almost no 
horticultural significance in California ; that 
northern fruits reach perfection, under proper 
conditions, at the south, and vice versa ; that 
some regions of greatest rainfall have to irri- 
gate most frequently ; that some of greatest 
heat have sharpest valley frosts ; that some 
fruits can be successfully grown through a 
north and south distance of 500 miles, but 
cannot be successfully carried a few hundred 
feet of either less or greater elevation ; that 
on the same parallel of latitude within a 
hundred miles of distance, from coast to 
mountainside, one can continuously gather 
marketable Bartlett pears for three months — 
not to mention the second crop, which is 
often of account on the same trees in the 
same season. 

Through the multitude of local observa- 
tions, which seem perplexing and almost con- 
tradictory, it is possible to clearly discern 
certain general conditions, of both nature and 
culture, which may be briefly advanced as 
characteristically and distinctively Californian. 

The climate of the Pacific Coast is de- 
scribed by the meteorologist as "insular or 
moderate," as contrasted with the "conti- 
nental or excessive" climate of the regions 
east of the Sierra Nevadas. The west coast 
of Europe is also insular in its climate. The 
northern limit of an annual mean tempera- 
ture of 50 degrees Fahr. is 50 degrees and 
47 degrees of north latitude on western coasts 
of Europe and America respectively. But 
though there is this similarity in mean annual 
temperature, there is a decided advantage per- 
taining to our climate over that of west 
Europe in that our range of temperature is 
less ; that is. extremes of heat and cold are 
nearer together, and changes are therefore 
much less excessive. This characteristic of 
our local climates is due in the main to two 
great agencies, one active, bringing heat, the 
other passive, shielding us from arctic influ- 
ences. 

First : Our proximitv to the Pacific Ocean. 
Professor McAdie, who has charge of the 
San Francisco office of the United States 
Weather Bureau, says : "The prevailing drift 
of the surface air in temperate latitude is 
from west to east. Therefore the proximity 
of the Pacific, with its mean annual tempera- 



ture of 55 degrees . Fahr. serves to prevent 
large temperature changes, because of the 
water vapor and also because the air comes 
landward. Whenever the circulation is re- 
versed, temperatures vary." 

Second : Another agency contributing to the 
mild climate of the Pacific Coast consists in 
the mountain barriers upon our northern and 
eastern boundaries. It was Guyot who first 
called attention to , the fact that the Sierra 
Nevada and the Cascade Mountains reach 
the coast of Alaska and bend like a great arm 
around its western and southern shore, thus 
shutting oS or deflecting the polar winds that 
otherwise would flow down over the Pacific 
Coast States, while California has her own 
additional protection from the north in the 
mountain arch which has its keystone in 
Mount Shasta. 

CHIEF TOPOGRAPHICAL AND CLI- 
MATIC DIVISIONS OF CALIFORNIA. 

California is usually divided into three main 
areas and climates, each distinct in typical 
conditions and yet separated by regions, more 
or less wide, in which these conditions merge 
and influence each other. Dr. Robertson 
says* : 

Isothermal lines which normally run east and 
west are, as they near the Pacific, deflected north 
and south, and define three distinct climatic belts. 
These may be named coast, valley and mountain ; 
and while they resemble each other in having only 
two seasons, they are dissimilar in other respects. 
These differences depend upon the topography of 
the country, and are of degree rather than of kind; 
altitude, distance from the ocean, and situation with 
reference to moimtain chains, sivmg to each region 
its characteristic climate. 

How similar are the conditions which pre- 
vail in these belts may be learned from the 
data shown in the following table, which in- 
cludes points separated by nearly the whole 
length of the State, the difference in lati- 
tude of the extreme north and south points 
being seven or eight degrees. Thus, through 
a north or south distance great as that which 
separates the States of Georgia and New- 
York, similar climatic conditions prevail in 
California. In the following table the aver- 
ages are deduced from observations by the 
United States Weather Bureau observers for 
a Ions: series of vears : 



•Report of State Agricultural Society, 1S86, p. 322. 



How to Grow Them 



19 



Local Characteristics 



LOCATIONS FOR THE GROWTH OF 
DIFFERENT FRUITS. 

It is intended to describe as definitely as 
possible the locations suitable for the growth 
of different fruits in the special chapters given 



It is apparent then that the selection of 
locations for orchards must be made with a 
knowledge of special conditions governing 
the distribution of equal temperatures and 
other natural agencies contributing to the 
development of fruit. This distribution, as 
has been intimated, is not by straight lines, as 



Seasonable and extreme temperatures and average rainfall in various California regions from the records 
of the United States Weather Bureau to the close of 1907, 



STATIONS 



COUNTY 



Be 



COAST 

Eureka Humboldt 

San Francisco San Francisco. . 

San Jose Santa Clara 

King Cit.v Monterey 

Santa Barbara Santa Barbara . . 

Los Angeles Los Angeles 

San Diego San Diego 

VALLEY 

Redding Tehama 

Sacramento Sacramento 

Merced Merced 

Fresno Fresno 

Visalia Tulare 

FOOTHILL AND MESA 

Auburn Placer 

Redlands San Bernardino . 



64 


47 


50 


56 


54 


52 


85 


20 


45.8 


155 


51 


55 


59 


59 


56 


101 


29 


22.7 


95 


50 


57 


67 


60 


58 


104 


18 


14.8 


33H 


49 


57 


66 


60 


58 


114 


15 


10.8 


130 


55 


58 


65 


63 


60 


100 


28 


16.6 


293 


55 


60 


70 


65 


62 


109 


28 


15.6 


93 


55 


59 


68 


63 


61 


101 


32 


9.4 


552 


47 


60 


80 


64 


63 


117 


18 


36.2 


71 


47 


59 


72 


62 


60 


108 


19 


19.9 


173 


49 


61 


79 


65 


63 


120 


16 


10.3 


293 


47 


60 


79 


64 


63 


114 


20 


9.2 


334 


46 


59 


78 


62 


61 


113 


17 


9 8 


1360 


47 


57 


75 


64 


61 


110 


12 


33.4 


L352 


52 


61 


77 


65 


64 


113 


25 


14.8 



to those fruits, but there are a few general 
conditions which should be outlined. 

In discussing the choice of location for an 
orchard it is not intended to speak geograph- 
ically. As has already been intimated, lati- 
tude, which is a prime factor in geography, is 
of exceedingly small account as an indication 
of horticultural adaptations in California. The 
fact becomes strikingly apparent when it is 
known that the apple and the orange, fruit 
kings whose kingdoms lie at opposite borders 
of the temperate zone, so far distant that one 
may be called semifrigid and the other semi- 
tropical, have in California utter disregard for 
the parallels of latitude, which set metes and 
bounds upon them in other lands, and flourish 
side by side, in suitable localities, from San 
Diego to Shasta. Impressive as this truth 
may be, it is not so startling as another fact, 
viz., that fruits, in suitable interior situations, 
ripen earlier at the north than at the south — 
a complete reversal of the tenets of the geog- 
rapher. 



in parallels of latitude, but by curves, which 
proceed in various directions, governed chiefly 
by topography. These are curves of tempera- 
ture, of rainfall, of elevation, of soil forma- 
tion and deposit. Geography retires from 
authority; topography and climatography 
govern. 

Let these ruling conditions be reviewed, 
then, briefly: First, as to general areas; 
second, with reference to special situations 
and locations. 

COAST CLIMATE. 

The chief characteristics of the coast are 
equable temperature, increasing southward ; 
summers cool and winters warm, as compared 
with the interior ; abundant rainfall, decreas- 
ing considerably southward ; a somewhat 
humid atmosphere, as compared with the in- 
terior ; frequent fogs or overcast skies ; pre- 
vailing westerly winds. 

The extension of coast influence toward 
the interior is governed by local topography. 



The Coast Climate 



20 



California Fruits : 



Coast valleys open to ocean winds are cooler 
and moister and demand hardier fruits than 
valleys sheltered by intervening ranges. Gaps 
and passes in the ranges are subject to winds 
of considerable force and low temperature, 
and are not generally favorable for fruit ; on 
the other hand, situations sheltered on the 
north and west favor growth of fruits even 
though quite near the coast. Sometimes a 
distance of a few miles, sometimes a wind- 
break of natural forest or of planted trees, 
so modifies coast influences that fruits do well. 
Elevation on the sides of coast valleys secures 
similar results. For example, the floor of the 
Pajaro Valley is well suited for apples, late 
pears, cherries, plums, prunes, and berries 
(except gooseberries), while on adjacent hill- 
sides peaches do well. 

In southern California, coast winds are 
warmer than in the upper half of the State, 
but coast influences intrude further, as a rule, 
because the hills near the coast in southern 
California are low ; the high ranges, answer- 
ing to the Coast Range of the upper part 
of the State, trending far into the interior. 
On the coast side of these ranges fruits ripen 
later than in sheltered interior points in the 
upper part of the State, but eastward of the 
mountains, where soil and moisture favor, 
or irrigation is practised, extra early locations 
have been found and are now being rapidly 
developed — in the Imperial and adjacent val- 
leys, for instance. 

Some of the horticultural eiTects of the con- 
ditions prevailing on the coast may be de- 
scribed as follows : 

Late Ripening of Fruits. — The late 
ripening of fruits west of the mountains 
in southern California has just been men- 
tioned. Intrusion of coast influences has the 
same effect in more marked degree at the 
north because the ocean winds are colder. 
Directly on the coast, at Pescadero, San 
Mateo County, for example, fruits ripen about 
a month later than in Santa Clara Valley, 
which is just across the Coast Range. Napa 
Valley, though about forty miles inland and 
sheltered by ranges of hills, still is sufficiently 
affected by coast influences to mature fruits 
considerably later than Vaca Valley, ten or 
fifteen miles further east, beyond a higher 
range, which completely bars out these in- 
fluences. Similar local effects are found in 
southern California. For instance, in Ventura 



County, 'in a canyon sixteen miles from the 
ocean, and at an elevation of si.xteen hundred 
feet, fruits ripen three weeks earlier than on 
the coast or in the valleys opening thereon. 

F.-\iLURE OF Cert.mn Fruits. — Though 
killing frosts are few directly on the coast, 
the deficiency in summer heat and sun- 
shine renders some fruits unsatisfactory. This 
is especially the case in the upper coast re- 
gion. Grapes and figs ripen imperfectly, while 
but a short distance back from the coast, in 
situations, sheltered by ridges parallel to the 
coast, they do well. Elevation sometimes pro- 
duces corresponding effects. 

Pests and Diseases. — Certain blights are 
more prevalent under coast conditions. 
The scab blight of the apple, the curl-leaf of 
the peach, and some other blights, are prev- 
alent on the coast and in coast valleys, on 
the river bottoms in the interior, and on the 
mountains, and less serious, or wholly absent, 
in the hot interior valleys. Some insects pre- 
fer the coast but thrive also in the interior, as 
hot dry wind is excluded by dense growth of 
the tree and the included air becomes moister 
above irrigated soil. A notable instance is 
the black scale, which, with the black smut 
which attends it, has long been a grievous pest 
of growers of olives and citrus fruits, and 
has recently become prevalent on deciduous 
fruit trees in some regions. Directly under 
coast influences, moss and lichens gather 
quickly and should be removed. Spraying 
with alkaline washes not only kills insects but 
cleans the bark from parasitic vegetable 
growth. Although fruit trees on the coast 
are not so subject to sunburn as in the in- 
terior, there is especial value in low heading 
to withstand winds ; there should also be 
plenty of room given the trees, that sunshine 
may have free access to warm the ground all 
around the tree, which may be undesirable in 
the interior. 

VALLEY CLIMATE. 

The characteristics of the interior valley 
climate are higher summer and lower win- 
ter temperatures than on the coast, the range 
of temperature being nearly the same both 
north and south ; rainfall abundant in the 
north and decreasing rapidly southward, so 
that as a rule the interior valleys in the 



How to Grow Them 



21 



Valley and Mountain Climate 



south half of the state require irrigation ; 
very dry air and ahnost constant sunshine, 
freedom from fogs and from dew in sum- 
mertime ; winds occasionally strong, hot, and 
dessicating in summer and cold in winter. 

Local Modifications. — The term "valley 
climate" is broad, and includes everything, 
from the coast to a certain elevation 
on the slope of the mountains. Certain 
small valleys protected from cold northerly 
winds and from fog-bearing westerly winds 
and open to the spring sunshine, have a 
forcing climate which produces the earliest 
maturing fruit of the season ; earlier not 
only than the coast and the mountain, as 
has been stated, but also somewhat earlier 
than adjacent locations in the broad, open 
valley. Slight elevation, even on the sides 
of small valleys, frequently secures freedom 
from winter frosts and ministers to early 
ripening. Elevation above sea-level on the 
rims of great valleys also secures similar re- 
sults and gives rise to thermal belts in which 
semi-tropical fruits are sucessfully growing 
even as far north as Shasta County. On the 
fioors of great valleys moderating influences 
are secured on the lee side of wide rivers 
and by planting on the river bank or on 
slightly elevated swells rather than on the 
level, open plain. The river bottom lands 
of the great valleys, though subject to se- 
vere frosts, are freer from the effects of 
dessicating winds than the open plains ; they 
are, however, more favorable to the spread 
of certain blights than the plains. 

Some of the horticultural effects of valley 
conditions are as follows : Early ripening 
and perfection of summer and autumn fruits, 
owing to continual sunshine and dry air ; 
forced maturity of certain fruits, as apples 
and pears, which destroys character and 
keeping quality ; injury from sunburn and 
hot winds in summer, which seriously affect 
both fruit and foliage of some varieties ; oc- 
casional injury to tender fruits (semi- 
tropicals) and to young trees of hardy fruits, 
which have been kept growing late in the 
season, from low temperature, which some- 
times is reached suddenly on the floor of the 
valleys ; freedom from some blights and in- 
sects which are prevalent on the coast, but 
not from others. Many of these minor trou- 
bles are, however, counterbalanced by the ear- 
liness, size, beauty, and quality of certain 



fruits, and by the most rapid and successful 
open-air drying of fruits, owing to high au- 
tumn temperature, the freedom from sum- 
mer fog, dew, and generally from rain dur- 
ing the drying season. 

FOOT-HILL CLBT.\TE. 

Foot-hill climate is usually considered as 
a modification of valley climate. It has been 
shown that up to about two thousand five 
hundred feet, on the western slope of the 
Sierra Nevada, the seasonal temperatures are 
quite like those of the valley, but the rain- 
fall increases about one inch for each hun- 
dred feet of elevation. There are, however, 
in the foot-hills, places where early spring 
heat and freedom from frost give very early 
ripening fruits, and other places at the same 
elevation where winter temperature drops 
below the valley minimum, and where late 
frosts also prevail. This is governed by local 
topography. In many of the small valleys 
among the foot-hills, both of the Sierra Ne- 
vada and the Coast Ranges, frosts are more 
severe than on the hills adjacent or in the 
broader valleys to which they are tributary. 
These small "protected valleys" are appar- 
ently warm and cozy for early blooming de- 
ciduous and citrus fruits, but are really 
very dangerous. They frequently have such 
narrow and obstructed openings that cold 
air is dammed up over their lower lands and 
frosts are more severe and later than in val- 
leys which have ample and free outlets and 
seem less protected. 

Of course the disposition of cold air to 
settle in low places and to flow down can- 
yons and creek-beds while the warm air rises 
and bathes the adjacent hillsides, has much 
to do with frost in the hollow and the freedom 
from it on the hills. The constant motion 
of the air on the slopes is also a preventive 
of frost, providing the general temperature 
is not too low. It is not uncommon to find 
in deeper valleys, protected against the west- 
ern wind, flecks of snow and a wintry chill, 
with dormant vegetation, while one thousand 
feet higher u]) the foliage is fast developing. 

MOUNTAIN CLIMATE. 

Above an elevation of two thousand five 
hundred to three thousand feet, conditions 
gradually intrude which resemble those of 



Activity of Fruit Trees 



22 



California Fruits 



wintry climates. The tender fruits, the apri- 
cot, peach, etc., become liable to winter injury 
and give irregular returns, or as greater ele- 
vation is attained, become wholly untrust- 
worthy. Early blooming of these fruits dur- 
ing warm spells which are followed by se- 
vere frosts, renders the trees unfruitful. At 
four thousand to four thousand five hundred 
feet the hardy apple and pear flourish, 
ripening late, and winter varieties possessing 
excellent keeping qualities. Here, however, 
winter killing of trees begins and locations 
even for hardy fruits have to he chosen with 
circumspection. 

There are elevated tracts of large extent 
among the Sierras where the common wild 
plum, choke-cherry, gooseberry, and Califor- 
nia chestnut are produced abundantly. April 
frosts have killed the fruit of those same 
plums, transplanted to lower ground, while 
those left in their natural situation were quite 
unharmed. It has been observed that these 
plum trees, with other fruits and nuts in their 
original positions, invariably occupy the broad 
tops of the great ridges instead of the sides 
and bottoms of ravines or narrow, pent-up 
valleys. Follow nature in the choice of or- 
chard sites (with due regard to a supply of 
moisture in the soil, either natural or arti- 
ficial) and little hazard attends the culture of 
the hardier fruits of our latitude among the 
highlands of the state than is incident to 
other seemingly more favored localities. The 
beauty and quality of these mountain fruits 
are proverbial. 

A RULE OF GENERAL APPLICATION. 

What has been thus suggested of the great 
variation of temperature conditions within 
narrow limits should lead to the conclusion 
that not only must the kind of fruit to plant 
be determined by local observation and ex- 
perience, but often varieties of these fruits 
must be chosen with reference to adapta- 
tion to local environment. For this reason 
it is impossible to compile tables of varieties 
suited for wide areas — and yet it is true that 
some varieties have shown themselves hardy 
and satisfactory under all conditions. These 
facts will be shown bv the discussion which 
will be given to each of the different fruits. 



REST AND ACTIVITY OF FRUIT 
TREES. 

Indication has already been made of re- 
gions adapted to the growth of early and of 
late fruits. There is, of course, difference 
in time of rest and of returning activity in 
blooming. On the mountains under wintry 
conditions the trees leaf out and bloom late, 
following more or less the habit of Eastern 
trees. In the foot-hills, the valleys, and the 
coast, there is less difference in time of rest 
and of leaf and bloom. Even in regions 
where there may be a month's difference in 
ripening of fruit, as, for example, in the 
Vacaville district, fifty miles inland, and in 
Berkeley, two miles from the bay shore, trees 
bloom almost at the same date. The differ- 
ence in ripening is due to the higher tempera- 
ture and fuller sunshine of the interior situ- 
ation, which have a forcing effect, while the 
low temperature and dull skies of the sum- 
mer on the coast retard maturity. 

The rest of the tree, in all save the moun- 
tain district, is not dependent upon the touch 
of frost. It comes rather from thirst than 
from cold. The immense weight of fruit, 
the vigorous growth of wood, and the ex- 
haustion of moisture from the soil by the 
draught of the roots to compass this growth, 
are the chief causes which bring the sere and 
yellow leaf in California. It is not frost, for 
the petunias may be blooming and the to- 
mato vines still green in the fields. But the 
time has come for a rest. The trees sleep ; 
but it is merely as a nap at midday ; the early 
rains wake them soon. The roots are active 
first, then the buds swell, and the blossoms 
burst forth — sometimes as early as January — 
the almond first heralding the advent of Cali- 
fornia springtime. 

Sometimes this season of rest is too short 
for the good of the tree or vine. The early 
rains, when followed by a spring-like tempera- 
ture, as sometimes happens, induce activity 
in the top as well as the root, and the tree 
is not in condition to withstand cold weather, 
which may follow. It is probable that such 
stimulated activity, suddenly checked, is re- 
sponsible for more ills to tree and vine than 
are usually attributed to it. 



How to Grow Them 



23 



Climate and Fruit Growing 



CHAPTER II. 

WHY THE CALIFORNIA CLIMATE FAVORS THE GROWTH OF FRUIT. 



JT WAS pointed out by the earliest students 
of meteorology, as related to horticulture, 
that perfect development of fruits depends 
upon certain atmospheric conditions, which 
are included in the term climate : First, tem- 
perature : second, light ; third, humidity or 
atmospheric moisture, — considered wholly apart 
from soil moisture. It was also shown that 
temperature and humidity should be equable, 
or as free as possible from excessive extremes 
or rapid changes. 

Obviously, the chief characteristics of the 
California climate are: First, freedom from 
extremes of low temperature ; second, an 
abundance of sunshine; and third, an atmos- 
phere with a low percentage of humidity. It 
will be interesting to introduce enough sta- 
tistics to demonstrate these claims, and to 
cite reasons why these conditions are of spe- 
cial value to the fruit grower. 



temperatures may prevent fruition without 
killing the plant. The first quality of the 
California climate to arrest the attention 
of fruit growers in the states east of the 
Rocky Mountains is the freedom from the ef- 
fects of extremely low winter temperatures, 
to which is due the deplorable failure, in the 
eastern and western states, of many of the 
fruit varieties from the west of Europe, and 
to escape which such zealous effort is now 
being so successfully put forth to secure 
hardy varieties of native and foreign origin. 

How slight is the injury from low tempera- 
tures in all parts of the state where fruit is 
largely grown mav be seen from the following 
compilation of extreme low temperatures at 
different points approximately at the same 
latitude on the coast, in the interior valleys, 
and on the foot-hills. 

These records will show any one familiar 



Lowest temperature at several California points. 



Coast and Coast Valleys 

Eureka 

Cape Mendocino 

Hj'desville 

Napa 

San Francisco 

San Jose 

Gilroy 

San Miguel 

Los .\ngeles 

San Diego 



Degrees 
above zero 


Interior Valleys 


Degrees 
above zero 


20 


Redding 


18 


28 


Red Bluff 


17 


24 


Oroville 


20 


20 


Marysville 


20 


28 


Sacramento 


19 


18 


Merced 


16 


20 


Fresno 


20 


17 


Tulare Citv 


14 


28 


Colton 


22 


32 


Powav 


21 



Colfax . 
Auburn 



Porterville. 
Redlands . . 
Fall Brook. 



16 
12 



22 
2.5 
27 



THE OFFICE 'OF HEAT IN . FRUIT 
PRODUCTION. 

Temperature conditions may preclude the 
success of a fruit tree either by destroying 
it outright, by dwarfing it, or by prevent- 
ing it from setting or ripening its fruit. Ex- 
tremes of temperature accomplish the death 
of plants, and insufficient or excessive mean 



with winter killing of the leading orchard 
fruits that such disasters are not to be feared 
in the chief fruit regions of California. Local 
temperature is largely controlled by local con- 
ditions, as has been already pointed out, and 
in the districts named in the table there are 
special locations where the lowest tempera- 
ture probably differed a few degrees from 
the figures given. 



Summer in Different Regions 



24 



California Fruits 



NECESSITY OF ADEQUATE SUMMER 
HEAT. 

Passing beyond the freedom from winter 
killing, it maj._be remarked that the influence 
of certain degrees of heat upon the growth 
of the plant and the perfection of its fruit, 
has been the subject of much close observa- 
tion. Boussingault conducted careful experi- 
ments, and showed that a temperature above 
a certain minimum of heat is found necessary 
for germination, another for chemical modi- 
fication, and a third for flowering, a fourth 
for the ripening of seeds, a fifth for the elabo- 
ration of the saccharine juices, and a sixth 
for the development of aroma or bouquet. 

Originally the mean annual temperature 
was alone observed, and the polar limits of 



that, in addition to a summer and autumn 
sufficiently hot, it is indispensable that at a 
given period — that which follows the appear- 
ance of seeds — there should be a month the 
mean temperature of which does not fall be- 
low 66.2 degrees Fahr. As will appear preS' 
ently, this temperature test should not be 
taken alone, but it will serve as a standard 
to show one feature of the horticultural adap- 
tation of the California climate. Boussingault 
claims the need of 66.2 degrees Fahr. for a 
single month. To be sure to include this, the 
accompanying table gives the average summer 
temperature at the leading fruit-growing cen- 
ters named. 

These points are selected because the Eu- 
ropean varieties of the grape reach perfection 
in their vicinitv. The excess of heat above that 



Average summer temperature at various California points 



Coast and Coast Valley! 

Upper Lake 

Napa 

Livermore 

San Jose 

Hollister 

Santa Barbara 

Los Angeles 

San Diego 



Deeree 
Fahrenheit 


Interior Valleys 


Degrees 
Fahrenhei 


86 


Redding 


80 


65 


Oroville 


79 


69 


Marysville 


78 


67 


Sacramento 


72 




Merced 


79 


65 


Fresno 


79 


70 


Tulare 


78 


68 


Riverside 


73 



Foot-hills Elevation Fahr^nh 

Auburn 1,363 75 

Colfax 2,421 76 

Georgetown 2,500 85 

Caliente 1,290 82 

Fall Brook 700 68 

Redlands 1,352 77 



plants, it was presumed, could be thereby de- 
termined. More recently it was taught that 
the mean temperature of seasons is of more 
importance than that of the year, and it is 
believed that to the relative distribution of 
heat over the seasons rather than to the ab- 
solute amount received during the year, we 
are to attribute the fitness or unfitness of a 
region for the growth of certain kinds of 
vegetation. 

It is held in Europe that the mean heat 
of the cycle of vegetation of the vine must 
be at least 59 degrees Fahr., and that of the 
summer from 65 degrees to 66 degrees Fahr. 
It is stated to be impossible, for instance, 
to cultivate the vine upon the temperate table- 
lands of South America, where they enjoy 
a mean temperature of 62.6 degrees to 66.2 
degrees Fahr., because these climates are 
characterized by a constancy of temperature, 
never rising to the higher heats necessary to 
the process of sugar forming, and the vine 
grows, and flourishes, but the grapes never 
become thoroughly ripe. Boussingault shows 



required, as is found at all the interior points 
mentioned in the table, results in a very high 
sugar percentage in the grapes, and contrib- 
utes to the ripening of a second and third 
crop, as will be noted presently. The su- 
perior length of the growing season in Cali- 
fornia, of course, is an important agency 
toward the same end. 

DIRECT SUNLIGHT ALSO A 
REQUISITE. 

Count de Gasparin was first to point out 
that not alone sufficient heat but abundance 
of continuous sunshine is a' requisite of per- 
fection in fruit growth and ripening, and on 
his authority may be based a claim of ex- 
ceptional value to the fruit grower in the 
months of cloudless skies which are charac- 
teristic of the California summer. 

''The solar rays," says Gasparin, "do not 
only produce heat but bring us light, and the 
effects of the heat and light rays differ in a 



How to Grow Them 



25 



Normal Cloudiness 



very pronounced manner. Without light there grapes in a season, from later bloom on 
is no fructification ; it is not necessary that younger cane growth. This behavior is of 
the want of light should be complete that more value as a demonstration of climatic 
there should be a failure of fruits. In fact, conditions than otherwise for it is generally 
diffused light alone does not suffice for the better to produce the main crop alone than 
greater number of plants ; cultivated plants to undertake later ones. 

will not ripen their seed without the direct Another indication of excess of advantage 
rays of sun, and the longer they are deprived in the interior valley is found in the develop- 
of it the smaller the quantity which they will ment of high sugar contents, which is of di- 
mature."* rect value in raisin production. The same ten- 

Normal cloudiness at California and Eastern points. 
CALIFORNIA. March .\pril May June July .\uk Sept Oct Nov 'Vnionths'^ 

Red Bluff 4.4 4.2 3.6 1.9 1.0 0,7 1.3 2 4 3.4 2.5 

Sacramento 3.9 3.5 2.7 1.5 5 0.4 1.1 2 2 8 2.0 

San Francisco 4.8 4.3 4.2 3.8 4.3 4.3 3.5 3.3 3 8 4.0 

Fresno.. 4.3 2.9 2.7 1.5 0.7 0.9 1.4 2.2 2.8 2.0 

San Diego 4.8 4.4 5.3 4.8 4.3 3 9 3.7 3.8 3.3 4.2 

EASTERN. 

Rochester, N. Y 6.6 5.4 5.2 4.9 4 6 4.6 4.9 6 7.6 5.5 

New York, N. Y 5.5 5.3 5.2 4.9 5.0 4.9 4.7 4 9 5.2 5.0 

Philadelphia, Pa 5.6 5.4 5.1 5 5.0 4.9 4.8 4.7 5.2 5.0 

Baltimore, Md 54 5.1 5.1 4.9 48 4.9 4.7 4.6 4.9 4.9 

Cleveland, Ohio 6.4 5.3 4.9 4 6 4.3 4.3 4.9 5.7 7.3 5.3 

Grand Haven, Mich 6.2 5.4 4.8 4.6 3.8 4.0 4 4 5.6 7.5 5 1 

Jacksonville, Fla 42 4.1 4.1 5.1 48 4.9 50 4.2 4.5 4.5 

New Orleans, La 4.8 4.8 4.3 4 7 4.9 4.7 4.3 3.5 4 5 4.5 



Again, referring to the grape, for in con- 
nection with the growth of this fruit the most 
careful researches have been made, Humboldt 
wrote: "If to give a potable wine the vine 
shuns the islands and nearly all seacoasts, 
even those of the West, the cause is not only 
in the moderate heat of summer upon the sea- 
shore, but it exists more in the difiference 
which there is between direct and diffused 
light ; between a clear sky, and one veiled 
with clouds. "§ 

It is noticeable that at the California coast 
points the average cloudiness is almost twice 
that of the interior valleys, while at the East 
the interior fruit regions of western 
New York, Ohio, and Michigan, have a 
greater average cloudiness than the Hudson 
River, New Jersey, and Delaware regions 
near the Atlantic seaboard. The average 
cloudiness in the Eastern fruit regions is 
rather more than twice as great as in the re- 
gions of California where most fruit is grown. 

This excess of advantage, as it may be 
termed, in connection with the high and 
protracted heat already mentioned, takes 
practical form in the successful ripening of 
a second and sometimes a third crop of these 



d'Agriculture. t. II, p. 96. 
3S, t. I, p. 343. 



dency, though perhaps of less commercial 
value, is seen in the fact that some grapes 
which yield a good claret wine nearer the 
coast develop too much alcohol when grown 
in the interior. 

The advantage of California over Eastern 
and Southern fruit regions in the abundance 
of clear sunshine is shown in the adjacent 
table. Cloudiness is rated from o to lo, three 
observations daily, and the figures in the table 
are the averages from these daily obser- 
vations for a series of years, compiled from 
the records of the U. S. Weather Bureau. 

RELATION OF ATMOSPHERIC IIU- 

AIIDITY TO THE GROWTH OF 

TREES. 

There is another important condition of 
the climate of California which is intimately 
related to those which have been considered, 
and which is to be credited with no small 
influence in the perfection of our fruits, and 
that is the low percentage of humidity which 
our atmosphere contains. In California the 
percentage of humidity is high in the winter 
and low in the summer ; in the East the con- 
dition is just reversed. For this reason sum- 
mer heat is far more oppressive in the East 



Climatic Endowment 



26 



California Fruits 



than in California, and for the same reason 
certain serious fungoid diseases which pre- 
vail at the East, though found here in less 
injurious degree directly on the coast, are 
wholly unknown in the interior where the air 
is drier. The dry air also favors the access 
and action of light and heat, for Tyndall 
says that a sheet of vapor acts as a screen 
to the earth, being in a great measure im- 
pervious to heat. 

It is not necessary then that there should 
be clouds to lessen the chemical effects of 
sun heat in fruit ripening. Not only do 
clouds intercept sunshine, but water vapor 
in the air — when to the eve the sun is bright 



sunshine, and dry air — taken in connection 
with the fitness of the soil and the great 
length of the growing season, insure the char- 
acteristic excellence, of California fruit, and 
the early maturity, great growth, and abund- 
ant fruitage of our trees and vines. Heat, 
sunshine, dry air, and a rainless summer also 
minister directly to the curing of fruits in 
the open air. All things considered, it is 
doubtful whether any area in the world ex- 
cels California in possession of natural adap- 
tation to fruit production and preservation. 

A RECAPITULATION OF CALIFOR- 
NIA'S CLIMATIC ENDOWMENT. 



Normal relative humidity at Eastern and California points. 

EASTERN STATIONS. April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov 

Jacksonville, Fla 72.3 73.0 77.6 78.6 80.9 82 9 79 8 82.2 

Philadelphia, Pa 63 4 68.9 69.2 68 6 71.2 75.2 70.7 73 6 

Rochester, N. Y 67.8 68.6 69.1 67.3 70.7 75.2 75.6 76.2 

Grand Haven, Mich 70.9 714 73.7 69 73 1 75,0 75.7 79.1 

St. Ivouis, Mo 63.7 67.8 68.8 66.3 67.3 70.2 65.9 71.1 

New Orleans, La 76.0 74.2 78.1 78 3 78.8 77.3 74.0 79.4 

Galveston, Tex 84.6 78.0 79.3 77.4 78.1 77.2 75.6 80.4 

CAUFORNIA STATIONS. 

Ivos Angeles 73.1 75.2 73 75.4 76.2 72.9 74.3 66.6 

Fresno 59.3 52.7 42.4 34.7 34.7 43.6 55.1 64 1 

Sacramento 67.6 67.6 66.1 59.8 59.8 59.0 62 4 66 8 

Red Bluff 61.9 56.8 43.7 35.6 35.3 43 6 51.6 60 7 



1 months 
78.3 

70 1 
71.3 
73 5 

67 6 
78 

78.5 

73.3 
48.3 
63.6 

48.8 



as ever — can absorb a large quantity of the 
effective sun rays, and so retard fruit ripen- 
ing. Hence an apparently sunny country which 
has much invisible water vapor in the air, 
may prove defective in fruit-ripening quali- 
ties. 

It is true that air free from humidity al- 
lows rapid escape of heat by radiation as well 
as free access of it, and in dry air frost is 
more severe, but at the time of the greatest 
fruit growth, from June to October, radiation 
down to a frost point is prevented by other 
natural agencies. In the early spring and 
late autumn the humidity percentage rises 
again and checks radiation just at the time 
of the year when it is most desirable to have 
it checked. 

The accompanying table, compiled from the 
records of the United States Weather Bu- 
reau, shows the prevailing relative humidity 
in the East and South and in California. 

THE THREE POINTS COMBINED. 

The three great advantages of the Cali- 
fornia climate — abundant heat, continuous 



Through the multitude of local observa- 
tions, which seem perplexing and almost con- 
tradictory, it is possible to clearly discern 
certain general conditions of both nature and 
culture, which may be briefly advanced as 
characteristically and distinctively Californian. 
Of these, perhaps the most striking is the 
length of the growing season. 

Take, for instance, the peach in a good 
peach region. The bloom may appear in 
February, followed by the grand foliage ex- 
panding to a leaf-size, marvelous to one un- 
used to such peach leaves. The shoots of 
new growth rush out with vigor, promised by 
such a leaf, and yet the fruit below expands 
as though it would burst its skin in rapid en- 
largement — and still it grows. The new 
shoot, apparently weary of its several feet 
of extension, stops for a rest, and then, re- 
viving, starts out its laterals — while still be- 
low the peach is growing. The laterals push 
out a foot or more — all carrying large, fresh 
leaves. While these are in full vigor, the fruit 
ripens, after having a full year's joint work 
of root and foliage, if it is a late variety. Is 



How to Grow Them 



27 



Climatic Endowment 



it any wonder it weighs a pound? But still 
the tree is active. It forms its terminal buds, 
and then all along the new main shoots and 
their laterals are formed the leaf and blos- 
som buds for the following year. Still the 
foliage holds green and active, if the moisture 
below be adequate, and the leaves seem loth 
to fall in the ninth month from the time of 
blooming. Is it any wonder California 
peaches are large and the trees require prun- 
ing and thinning to enable them to carry the 
weight produced in such a season of growth? 
And what has been said of the peach is true 
of other trees, according to their nature and 
habits. The trees themselves are more elo- 
quent of California's conditions for growth 
than descriptions or statistical tables can be 
made. 

But the quality of the light and heat, if 
the term is admissible, is a factor as well as 
their duration. The air, free, not alone from 
clouds, but from the insensible aqueous vapor 
wliich weakens sunshine in its effort to serve 
vegetation in a humid climate, has a clearness 
and brilliance from its aridity which makes 
each day of the long, growing season more 
than a day in other climates, and thus adds 
to the calendar length of the growing season. 
The surplus light and heat also act directly 
in the chemistry which proceeds in the tissues 
of the plant, and we have not only size, but 
quality, color, aroma — everything which makes 
the perfect fruit precious and beautiful be- 
3'ond words. 

It is true that for commercial purposes it 
is not possible to allow this process to go too 
far, for its later effects are higher sweetness, 
accompanied by such juiciness that the fruit 
cannot endure transportation. But go to the 
tree to apply the only test which can fairly be 
put to a juicy fruit, and the demonstration 
of the service of clear, unobstructed sunshine 
through an adequate period is complete. But 
if this can not be done, place the judgment 
upon the mature peach carefully sun-dried and 
intelligently cooked, or upon the ripe peach 
skillfully canned, and the distinctive adapta- 
tions of California for fruit production will 
display themselves. 

But there are other agencies involved in the 
perfection of fruit than intensity and duration 
of light and heat. Without adequate mois- 
ture in the soil, the air which we have credited 



with such benign power in carrying heat and 
light for perfection of fruit would transmit 
the same as agencies for the destruction of 
the tree' which bears it. If this moisture 
comes from rainfall, it descends at the time of 
the year when the tree is least active, conse- 
quently is least retarded by a clouded sky 
and moisture-laden air, and least affected by 
atmospheric disturbances. Strong storm winds 
iind the tree with reefed sails, and able to en- 
dure pressure which would tear it to pieces if 
they came upon its grand spread of foliage on 
branches heavy with fruit. It is a priceless 
horticultural endowment that no tornado can 
pierce our protecting mountain-barriers, and 
that it is exceedingly rare that our local winds 
disturb the confident swaying of the branches 
and leaf movement beyond the activity which 
ministers to the sap flow. And if the adequate 
moisture is not from rainstorm, but by irriga- 
tion, the same facts remain, for the water 
reaches the tree without interrupting its aerial 
activity. Temperature is maintained, light is 
unobstructed, and the tree is refreshed with 
moisture without the chill and darkness which 
favor fungoid parasites. Of all the ways by 
which moisture could come to soils supporting 
fruit tree or vine, the natural by its time, and 
the artificial by its method, endow Cali- 
fornia with the best. 

The characteristics of the California climate 
which have been especially pointed out in this 
sketch are not propitious to fruit culture when 
they exist to excessive degree, as in some in- 
terior or continental climates. Local condi- 
tions of altitude, distance from the sea, and 
exposure to the sweep of arctic winds, induce 
sudden and great weather changes which are 
serious in their effects. Excessively low per- 
centage of atmospheric humidty, in connec- 
tion with dessicating wind, often produce 
greater evaporation from the leaves tlian the 
roots can supply. Excessively dry air admits 
a parching sun heat at one time, and at 
another facilitates radiation of heat, until the 
rapid decline in temperature makes killing 
frosts frequent. It is evident that California 
has these agencies constantly held in check 
by her insular situation and protecting en- 
vironment, and owes her wonderful adapta- 
tion to growth of tree and perfection of fruit 
not more to the possession of certain condi- 
tions than to the fact of their existence in 
moderation. 



California Fruit Soils 



28 



California Fruits : 



CHAPTER III. 



THE FRUIT SOILS OF CALIFORNIA. 



THE favoring characteristics of the Cahfor- 
nia climates, which have been described, 
find their fitting complement in the adaptation 
of the California soils to the perfect develop- 
ment of fruit-bearing tree and vine. In their 
wonderful variety and consequent great range 
of special adaptations within narrow limits 
of area, our soils also resemble our climates. 
As a man may sometimes find within the 
boundaries of an ordinary-sized farm such a 
difference of atmospheric conditions that the 
same fruit will thrive in one spot and not in 
another, so he may find differences in soil 
which will tend to produce the same results. 
For this reason the precise spot in which to 
plant any given fruit must be chosen with re- 
gard to both soil and exposure. In the chap- 
ters devoted to the several fruits, there will 
be an attempt made to describe the soil re- 
quirements of each, so that the inexperienced 
planter may not err seriously in choosing the 
location for each kind of fruit he desires to 
grow. While this is true, it will also appear 
in these special chapters that the choice of 
roots upon which to bud or graft gives the 
planter a certain latitude and independence. 
This is of greatest value in the planting of 
home orchards, or orchards for local markets, 
in regions where the soil is not what is usu- 
ally preferred for fruit production. With 
proper choice of stocks and wisdom and dili- 
gence in cultivation, one need hardly despair 
of growing good fruit on soil which will 
support any laudable plant growth. And yet 
in commercial orcharding, the secret of which 
is producing most abundantly and cheaply, 
too great attention can not be paid to choice 
of specially adapted soils. 

It is an interesting fact that more com- 
plete and exact knowledge exists of the soils 
of California than of any other State of the 
L^nion, and for this knowledge the public is 
indebted to E. W. Hilgard, Professor Emeri- 
tus of Agriculture, and Director of the Agri- 



cultural E.xperiment Stations of the University 
of California from 1875 to 1905. For the last 
thirty-three years he has given all the time he 
could spare from many other and pressing 
duties, to the examination, and, when needed, 
the analysis, of representative soil specimens, 
and to practical expositions of their nature, 
adaptations, and requirements in the event of 
exhaustion from too long cropping, and he 
has just published a general treatise entitled, 
"Soils: Their Formation, Properties, Composi- 
tion and Relations to Climate and Plant 
Growth in the Humid and Arid Regions," * 
which includes the results of his long study 
of California soils and climates. It is the 
purpose of the writer to set forth a few gen- 
eral characters of California fruit soils, with 
notes of their local occurrence, referring the 
reader to Prof. Hilgard's treatise for fuller 
exposition. 

Very extensive studies of California soils 
have been recently made under the direction of 
Dr. Milton Whitney, Chief of the Bureau of 
Soils of the United States Department of 
Agriculture, and a new classification and 
nomenclature of them, from his points of 
view, with extended maps of their occurrence, 
are to be found in the special reports of the 
Bureau. 

DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OF CALI- 
FORNIA SOILS. 

One of the most interesting and important 
recent achievements in soil investigation con- 
sists in demonstrating distinctive differences 
between soils formed under arid and under 
humid climatic conditions. In the develop- 
ment of this suljject certain distinctive char- 
acters of California soils clearly appear and 
they are of direct relation to the thrift, pro- 
ductiveness, treatment and longevity of fruit 



•Published by the Macmillan Company and sold 
by Pacific Rural Press of .San Francisco at ?4 post- 
paid. 



How to Grow Them 



29 



California Fruit Soils 



trees. These characters are : (a) lightness and 
consequent permeability and ease of cultiva- 
tion; (b) depth, admitting exceptional root 
extension and penetration ; and (c) richness, 
containing some kinds of plant food in con- 
siderably greater amounts than are found in 
the soils of humid regions. These character- 
istics, as demonstrated by Prof. Hilgard, 
may be outlined in this way with special 
reference to their relations to fruit growing. 

Lightness. — California soils predominantly 
exhibit the sandy, silty or pulverulent nature 
of all soils formed under arid conditions, 
save in case of pre-existing clay formations 
of former geological epochs, as well as slack- 
water deposits of the present epoch, all of 
which are substantially independent of cli- 
mate. While "sand" in the humid regions 
means virtually quartz grains only, in the 
arid country it means very largely grains 
and powder of the other soil-forming min- 
erals as well. While, therefore, in the humid 
region, sandy land as a rule means poor 
land, in the arid, on the contrary, sandy 
lands are at least as desirable as heavier 
ones, both on the score of high productive- 
ness, durability, and ease of cultivation, 
together with ready resistance to droutli. 

Depth. — Another point of great importance 
is that the difference between soil and sub- 
soil, which is so striking and important in 
regions of abundant rainfall, is largely oblit- 
erated in arid climates. Very commonly 
hardly a perceptible change of tint or tex- 
ture is found for depths of several feet ; and 
what is more important, material from such 
depths, when thrown on the surface often- 
times subserves the agricultural uses of a 
soil nearly or quite as well as the original sur- 
face soil. The unconcern with which irrigators 
proceed to level or otherwise grade their 
land, even though this may involve covering 
up large areas of surface soil with subsoil 
from several feet depth ; the rapidity with 
which the red loam of the placer mines of 
the Sierra Nevada foot-hills is re-covered 
with the natural forest growth of the region, 
etc., are examples familiar to the residents 
but surprising to newcomers, who are ac- 
customed to dread the upturning of the sub- 
soil as likely to deprive them of remunera- 
tive crops for several years, until the '"raw" 
subsoil has had time to be "vitalized" by the 
fallowing effect of the atmosphere, and to 



acquire the needful amount of humus or 
vegetable mold. Thus the surface soil, which 
in the humid regions supplies the bulk of the 
nourishment, becomes here of minor im- 
portance, serving chiefly as a mulch to pre- 
vent waste of moisture ; while the active 
process of nutrition occurs in the deeper por- 
tion of the soil stratum, whose composition, 
as well as condition of disintegration and 
aeration, is substantially the same as above. 
The second foot is rarely found to differ ma- 
terially from the first, even as to humus 
content ; for the latter, being almost exclu- 
sively derived from the humificatioh of roots, 
the leaves and herbage on the surface being 
mostly oxidized away under the intense heat 
of summer ; it not uncommonly happens 
in very porous soils that the first six inches 
of surface soil are poorer in humus than 
the second foot. 

Practical Results of Lightness .\nd 
Depth. — -The "lightness" and perviousness of 
the prevailing soils of the arid region permit 
of the penetration of roots to depths which in 
the humid region are inaccessible to them on 
account of the dense subsoils, which prevent 
the needful access of air. This deep pene- 
tration enables even annual plants to avail 
themselves directlv of the stores of moisture 
in the substrata, at depths which in the hu- 
mid region are scarcely reached save by the 
tap-roots of some perennials and trees ; while 
the latter themselves reach depths never ap- 
proached by them in the region of summer 
rains. Professor Hilgard has personally 
found the ends of the roots of grape-vines 
at a depth of twenty-three feet, in a gravelly 
clay-loam ; and from ten to fifteen feet are 
ordinary depths reached by the root system 
of fruit trees. Such depth of rooting, when 
conservation of moisture is secured by proper 
.surface cultivation, enables deciduous fruit 
trees to grow thriftily and bear fine fruit 
through six months of drouth while as many 
weeks of drouth may bring distress and loss 
of fruit to surface-rooting trees on the shal- 
low soils of the humid region. 

Richness. — The foregoing conditions are 
rendered the more significant and effective 
through the third characteristic of soils 
formed in arid climates. The average aggre- 
gate amounts of plant-food ingredients are 
markedly greater in the arid than in the hu- 
mid soils, wherever their derivation is at all 



California Fruit Soils 



30 



California Fruits 



generalized. Among the agriculturally im- 
portant ingredients contained in larger aver- 
age amounts in the arid soils than in the 
humid, lime stands foremost ; its percentage 
in soils not derived from calcarous forma- 
tions being from twelve to fourteen times 
greater in the arid than in the humid soils. 
Magnesia follows lime in this respect, but the 
average difference is only about half as great. 
The average content of potash in the arid soils 
exceeds that in the humid in about the pro- 
portion of one to three or four. But no such 
constant dift'erence exists in respect to phos- 
phoric acid. As regards humus, and the 
nitrogen of which it is the carrier and reser- 
voir, its amount is usually considerably less 
than in the humid soils ; but the total nitro- 
gen percentage does not differ widely, be- 
cause the humus of arid soils contains, on 
the average, from three to five times as 
much nitrogen as is found in the humus of 
humid soils, and therefore, the supply of soil 
nitrogen is very nearly the same in both re- 
gions, while from several causes, the humus- 
nitrogen of arid soils is more available to 
plants. 

CLASSIFICATION OF CALIFORNIA 
SOILS. 

Any attempt to classify the soils of Cali- 
fornia upon scientific lines or even to describe 
them in their wonderful variety, according 
to their geographical occurrence, would lead 
beyond the limitations of a treatise upon the 
practice of fruit growing. Rather let an at- 
tempt be made to designate certain grades 
of soil with brief characterization of their 
leading features as they are related to the 
growth of fruits. By such a course it may 
be made to appear that though the soils of 
the State are predominantly light, deep and 
rich and thus eminently fitted for fruit grow- 
ing, there are many degrees in the possession 
of these characters or any of them, in local 
soils, and upon this individual manifestation 
they rate all the way from perfection to de- 
fectiveness. Let a classification proceed then 
upon a descending scale. 

Light, Deep Loams. — Admixture of clay 
with enough coarse materials to secure per- 
meability to air and water, ease in cultiva- 
tion, deep root penetration and free drainage 
of surplus water, produces soil of the highest 



adaptability to the growth of fruit trees and 
vines. These soils are popularly known as 
loams. They are designated as sandy loams, 
medium loams and clay loams, according to 
the proportion of clay commingled with the 
sand or coarse materials. 

Professor Hilgard has devised the follow- 
ing nomenclature of soils based upon their 
content of clay: Sandy soils, less than 5 per 
cent of clay ; sandy loams, from 5 to 10 per 
cent ; ordinary or medium loams, from 10 
to 15 per cent; clay loams, from 15 to 20 per 
cent ; clay soils, from 20 to 50 per cent of 
clay. 

The coarse materials are sand grains of 
various sizes or rock particles in various de- 
grees of disintegration. The fine materials 
are clay and rock powder, commonly desig- 
nated as fine silt. Loam soils may result 
from deposits by flowing water or may con- 
sist of debris but little removed from local 
rock disintegration. They include a wide 
variety of materials but agree in the posses- 
tion of striking adaptability to fruit culture. 
Some of the leading instances of such soils 
may be cited. 

Loams of the Valley Plains. — On the 
east side of the Sacramento Valley low ridges 
and swales at right angles to the river's course 
come in from the foot-hills, forming a gently 
undulating plain with a fall of from fifteen to 
twenty feet per mile, sometimes right up to 
the river channels. Nearly all the soils of 
the east side have a reddish tinge, showing 
the admixture of the red foot-hill soil and 
demonstrating, by the way, that all these 
lands are well drained. In cuts ten to twelve 
feet deep, made by the sloughs, the reddish 
plains loam is seen to reach from six to ten 
feet depth, being then underlaid by gravelly 
substrata. The width of this class of pro- 
fusely fertile valley land, east and west, varies 
considerably, according to the meanderings of 
the rivers. Away from the water courses, the 
higher lands of the valleys are largely red 
or yellow loams, sometimes clayey and difficult 
of cultivation unless taken just in the right 
condition, sometimes gravelly and apt to 
dry out unless the natural water supply is 
supplemented by irrigation, but mostly a free- 
working, fairly retentive, light loam, very 
satisfactory for some kinds of fruit. 

The soils of the San Joaquin Valley have, 
as a rule, a much greater admixture of sand 



How to Grow Them 



31 



Classificaton of Soils 



than those of the Sacramento \'alley ; there 
is also a more distinct subdivision of the 
valley lands into upland or "bench" lands, 
and lowland or alluvial lands proper. 

Upon the upland or plains soils, especially 
of Fresno and Tulare counties, wonderful 
progress in fruit-growing by irrigation has 
been made during the last few years. Though 
its summer aspect is most forbidding and al- 
most desert-like in lack of vegetation, the ap- 
plication of water has shown exceptional quick- 
ness of growth, early bearing, and lavish pro- 
ductiveness of tree and vine. These plains 
loams vary in appearance, and are from this 
fact locally named, "reddish loam," "white 
ash," and "sand hill." All are distinctly cal- 
careous. Even in the case of the latter, 
which is the lightest and made of almost 
90 per cent of inert sand, it is so deep and has 
its plant food in such highly available con- 
dition that it is producing very large crops 
of fruits where there is no rise of the bottom 
water to prevent root penetration. In the 
foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada there are 
some loose loams of light color resulting 
from the decomposition of granite, but they 
are as a rule inferior to the red foot-hill soils, 
which are more clayey, and will be mentioned 
among the clay loams later. 

The soils prevailing in the valley of south- 
ern California, from Redlands at its head to 
Los Angeles at its opening out toward the 
sea, consist chiefly of granitic sand, which at 
some points on the slopes forms the soil? 
exclusively, but everywhere constitutes a 
prominent ingredient of the valley and mesa 
lands. These mesa lands are conspicuous 
for their orange-red tint, and the red sandy 
loam of which they are composed, to depths 
varying from ten to as much as eighty feet, 
is evidently the choice soil for orange culture. 
It is manifest that at some remote epoch it 
filled the entire valley. Of the middle portion 
much has been washed away, but islands of 
it form red-land tracts of greater or less 
extent all over the region, traversed by and 
more or less commingled with, the granitic 
wash from the valleys and canyons of the 
Sierra Madre. The latter frequently consists 
largely of gravel, and were it not for the 
luxuriant natural vegetation borne by these 
gravel beds, few would have thought of de- 
voting them to the costlv experiment of 
orange planting, which, nevertheless, has 
proved eminently successful even on these un- 



promising-looking masses of debris. In the 
upper valley (San Bernardino Valley proper) 
the red loam is conspicuous, and gives its 
name to the flourishing city and citrus district 
of Redlands, on the terminal slope ; but the 
heavy flow of water from the upper canyons, 
notably from that of the Santa Ana River, 
has scoured it out of the valley itself, and 
left there, at least on the northern portion, 
gray and blackish granitic loams of great 
depth and productiveness, underlaid, and 
therefore underdrained, by the enormous 
gravel beds that hold the artesian water of 
this favored region. 

The reddish mesa soils prevail through the 
smaller Southern California valleys as well, 
and are similar in character, as they are de- 
rived from similar geological formations. 

Where the surface descends gradually to the 
seashore, and not in bluffs, there are, as in 
Los Angeles and Orange counties, coast flats 
several miles in width, where the soil is a 
dark-colored sandy loam, glistening with 
scales of mica, and more or less affected with 
alkali in the lower portions. Similar soils 
are found in tracts of greater or less extent up 
the coast as far as Santa Barbara at least. 
As a rule, these seashore lands are very pro- 
ductive, but fruits for them must be chosen 
with reference to their low level and exposure 
to coast influences. 

The light loams of the so-called desert re- 
gion of Southern California are not inferior 
in productive capacity to some of the best 
soils of the great valley, which it greatly re- 
sembles, save in the scarcity of humus, or 
vegetable matter. Only a detailed survey, 
however, can determine the tracts having an 
arable soil, as against those overrun by arid 
sand. The soil of the Colorado River bottom 
is highly productive, easily worked, being 
quite light. It is a highly calcareous soil, and 
now, as the water of the Colorado River has 
been made available for irrigation, is yielding 
rich returns for cultivation. 

The valleys of the seaward slope of the 
Coast Range have mostly gray, light, and silty, 
rather than sandv soils, quite similar in ap- 
pearance from \'entura to Humboldt county, 
though differing considerably in composition, 
those of the southern region being more cal- 
careous, and apparently richer in phosphoric 
acid; as the coast region consists for the 
most part of low ranges with intervening 
valleys, the valleys are, as a rule, small, 



Classification of Soils 



32 



California Fruits : 



though a few show considerable area. In 
such a country the soil surface shows wide 
diversity within smaller areas than on the 
vast stretches of the great interior valley ; 
consequently, so far as soil goes, the coast 
farms are often suited to a wider range of 
fruits than the interior valley farms of simi- 
lar size. 

ALLUVIAL OR SEDBIENTARY 

LOAMS. 

These soils have been considered from the 
earliest plantings by Americans as par ex- 
cellence the fruit soils of the great valley 
of central and northern California. They oc- 
cur along the courses of existing streams, 
and extend back to variable distances, until 
they merge into the valley loams, or adobes. 
These deposits are considerably higher than 
the present beds of the streams, and are 
sometimes described as '"next to river bottom." 
They consist of fine alluvium, with seldom any 
admixture of coarse materials. These river 
soils are usually very deep and they are natu- 
rally well drained. 

These deposits cross the valley in somewhat 
irregular courses ; they are of greater or less 
width according to the drainage area whence 
they have come. They vary also in depth, 
and taper down on either side to the level of 
the red loam or adobe upon which they have 
been deposited. Such strips are first cbosen 
by the fruit planters of the district in which 
they occur. In the valleys of the rivers cross- 
ing the eastern side of the San Joaquin Val- 
ley, there are, bordering the streams as well 
as Tulare Lake, considerable areas of brown 
to blackish loam varying from heavy to light, 
but for the most part easily tilled and ex- 
ceedingly rich. Considerable fruit has been 
grown for years on these situations, and 
some kinds do well on these bottoms which 
do not show adaptation to the plains. Some 
even of the higher lying portions of these 
"black lands" support thrifty orchards with- 
out irrigation. The wider stretches of allu- 
vial soils in the upper part of the valley, as 
in the Mussel Slough country and the Visalia 
region, for instance, are notably well adapted 
to fruit growing. The occasional intrusion of 
alkali, which must be carefullv avoided, is 
the chief obstacle to the general approval of 
these alluvial lands for fruit purposes. 

Soil of similar character is found in some 



small valleys consisting of an alluvial wash 
from the bordering hills which in some places 
reaches a depth of thirty feet or more without 
notable change in character. Such soils have 
proved very fertile and durable. 

The rich river bottom, adjacent to the beds 
of the main rivers and sloughs of the valley, 
has usually a dark, rich, and moist soil, easily 
tilled and not subject to baking and cracking. 
It is largely used for the growth of vegetables 
and alfalfa, but considerable areas have been 
planted with fruit trees, especially with pears, 
which do not suffer from submergence of 
their roots for considerable time. 

In the coast valleys of the State there are 
also very extensive- areas of alluvial soils 
which are largely used in fruit production, 
as well as upland loams formed in place by 
the disintegration of local rock formations. 
The famous fruit region extending from Oak- 
land southward nearly one hundred miles, 
including the Alameda and Santa Clara Val- 
leys, has very large areas of alluvial soil, 
ranging from deep, rich blackish loams used 
for vegetables and small fruits, to lighter 
loams resulting from intermixture of sedi- 
ment brought by streams from adjacent hill- 
sides with the clay of the valley bottom. It is 
to these deep, rich alluvial deposits that the 
region owes its great reputation in fruit lines. 

CLAY LOAAIS. 

Of loams containing sufficient clay to ren- 
der them somewhat heavv and tenacious, there 
is also a great variety in California. Their 
suitability for different fruits depends upon 
selection of roots adapted to their character 
and upon the depth and degree of retentive- 
ness of the soils themselves. They are more 
difficult of tillage than the free loams, but 
offer some compensation therefor in their 
richness and durability. 

Cl.'Vy Loams of the Foot-hills and 
Valley Border. — The soils of the foot-hills 
of the Sierra Nevada, throughout its course 
along the great valley, vary from a moderately 
clayev loam to a heavy, though not uncom- 
monly gravelly, often orange-red clay. This 
character seems to be sensibly the same, 
whether the soil be derived from the decom- 
position of the ancient slate bed-rock or di- 
rectly from the dark-colored granites, thus 
creating a presumption that the two rocks 



How to Grow Them 



33 



Defective Soils 



are closely related. The soils are highly 
charged with iron to the extent of from seven 
to over twelve per cent, which being finely 
divided, imparts to them the intense orange- 
red tint. The soils of the foot-hills agree 
with the soils of the valley in having a good 
percentage of lime, while the supply of potash 
and phosphates, as well as of organic matter, 
is smaller, and sometimes low, though never 
apparently inadequate for present productive- 
ness, in the presence of so much lime. 

Along the base of the foot-hills of the Si- 
erra there is in Fresno, Tulare, and part of 
Kern county, a narrow belt, irregular in 
width, of partly red and partly black clay 
or adobe, so highly calcareous as to break 
up, when dry, into small fragments, produ- 
cing a condition that has received the name 
"dry bog." It is upon this that the citrus 
orchards of the Porterville district are chiefly 
grown. A white, calcareous marl sometimes 
occurs beneath this soil at varying depths, pro- 
ducing chlorosis or yellowing of citrus leaves 
when reached by the roots. Westward of this 
"dry bog" land there is a belt of reddish or 
brown loam soils, corresponding to those simi- 
larly located in the Sacramento Valley, but 
generally more clayey, and hence frequently 
designated as adobe by contrast with the 
very sandy soils of the valley at large, 
although properly they should be classed sim- 
ply as clayey loams. This belt is eight to ten 
miles wide in middle Tulare county and nar- 
rows to the north and south. Here these 
lands have a gentle slope of ten to twenty 
feet per mile from the base of the foot-hills, 
and appear to be underlaid at a depth of 
twelve to fifteen feet by water-bearing gravel. 
The soil is a reddish, more or less sandy, 
loam, changing little in its aspect for several 
feet. Its adaptation to fruit is shown by the 
products of the Lindsay region. 

CLAY SOILS. 

Thus far a very small area of true adobe* 
soil has been employed in horticulture. There 
is a great difference in the character of what 
is known as adobe in different localities. Its 
color varies, as the popular terms "black 
waxy," "black," "brown," and "gray" adobe 
indicate. Its physical condition and chemical 

•This name has been erroneously applied to the 
loam commonly used in the construction of adobe 
houses. Agriculturally, it means "a heavy clay 
soil," such as could not be used in building. 



composition also vary greatly. The black 
adobe of the east side of the Sacramento Val- 
ley is easily tilled as compared with the gray 
adobe on the west side, which is very refrac- 
tory and often largely impregnated with al- 
kali. To render soil of adobe character useful 
for fruit growing, this tendency to dry out 
and crack, thus allowing evaporation from 
below as well as from the surface, must be 
overcome. The discussion of this point be- 
longs to the chapter on cultivation. Adobe 
soils are, as a rule, rich and durable and there- 
fore promise long fruitfuhiess to trees and 
vines with roots adapted to heavy soils, but 
difficulty of cultivation, excessive retention 
of water, and other evils are ahvays present. 
Some suggestions on the treatment of such 
soils will be given in the chapter on fertiliza- 
tion. 

DEFECTIVE SOILS. 

Although California soils are predominantly 
of the depth, lightness and richness best 
suited to the growth and hearing of fruit 
trees and vines, it should always be borne in 
mind that there are marked exceptions, and 
failure to observe this fact has resulted in 
considerable disappointment and loss. There 
is in California much land which is bad from 
a horticultural point of view and it is apt to 
occur even in the vicinity of lands of the 
highest excellence. It is, therefore, neces- 
sary to advise that the closest examination be 
made before investment be made in the plant- 
ing of fruits. 

Although there are instances of deficiency 
in plant food in California soils and consider- 
able areas of land sterile through excess of 
saline and alkaline salts, these are usually 
indicated by the local reputation of the tracts, 
if the newcomer will take pains to make in- 
quiry. It is rather the more obscure, subsoil 
conditions which lead to loss or failure, and 
they may be unknown even to men who have 
owned or farmed the land for years for 
ordinary field crops. These defects are, in 
the main, three: 

Hard-pan. — Good loams may be underlaid 
near the surface by hard-pan or by layers of 
heavy clay. These prevent root penetration ; 
they also limit moisture reception to the shal- 
low surface layer, which is apt to become 
water-logged for lack of drainage during the 
rainy season or by excessive irrigation, and 



Defective Soils 



34 



California Fruits 



to quickly lose its moisture by surface evapo- 
ration in the dry season, with no compensa- 
tion from the tight layer below. In such a 
situation, then, the plant may suffer severely 
from excess of water at one time of the year 
and lack of it at another. Such lands may 
serve well for some of the small fruits, but 
not for trees or vines. Under certain cir- 
cumstances the defects of these soils may be 
corrected, as will be suggested in the chap- 
ter on preparing lands for planting. 

Leachy Sub-soils. — Good loams are also 
occasionally underlaid by layers of coarse 
sand or gravel, through which water flows 
away beyond the reach of roots which will 
only make measured progress through such 
materials. Trees in such situations are apt 
to come into distress in the dry season and 
can only be comforted by frequency and vol- 
ume of irrigation and fertilization, which may 
be out of proportion to the returns they are 
able to make. 

Rise of Ground Water — Good fruit lands 
are also occasionally rendered defective by the 
rise of the ground water toward the surface 
so that only a shallow layer is left for root 
extension — the evil being aggravated by the 
fact that a temporary fall of the ground water 
induces deeper rooting, which a subsequent 
rise of the water destroys, and decay of the 
roots ensues. This trouble has occurred over 
large areas where excessive irrigation, or the 
course of leaky ditches, on higher lands, has 
filled the lower levels to such an extent that 
there is actual outcropping of swamps in the 
swales. The cure for these conditions is, ob- 
viously, drainage, which it is not always possi- 
ble to secure at a warranted outlay. 

Alkali. — Connected with this rise of the 
ground water the alkali evil may intrude. But 



little trouble arises from this cause in the 
high-lying, sandy tracts, where irrigation or 
the natural rainfall carries the soluble salts 
annuallv into the country drainage ; but in 
the low-lying and less pervious soils of swales 
and valley troughs, which are at the same 
time intrinsically the richest in available min- 
eral plant food, the accumulation frequently 
causes considerable trouble and difficulty.* 

Prospecting for Soil Defects. — The 
University Experiment Station at Berkeley, 
undertakes to advise planters concerning the 
character of the land they propose to use. 
For subterranean prospecting. Professor Hil- 
gard commends a steel rod not less than a 
quarter of an inch in diameter (round or 
square, preferably the latter), well pointed 
at one end, and provided at the other with 
a stout iron ring for the reception of a stout 
cross-handle, such as is used for post-hole 
augers. With such a prod, or sounding rod, 
not less than five feet in length, the explora- 
tion of the subsoil for hard-pan or dense 
clay layers becomes a matter of a few minutes. 
It is easy also to detect thus the presence of 
underlying layers of quicksand, gravel, or 
other loose materials through which irrigation 
water would waste, or which would prevent 
the rise of bottom water within the reach of 
plant roots, by the large interspaces between 
their grains. Any remaining doubts as to the 
nature of such underlying materials at par- 
ticular points can then quickly be solved by 
the use of a post-hole auger or by digging, 
as thorough inspection and the taking of sam- 
ples for each foot of depth may be found de- 
sirable. 



♦Universitiy publications on alkaline soils and 
their treatment may be liad by application to Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station, Berkeley. 



How to Grow Them 



35 



California Wild Fruits 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE WILD FRUITS OF CALIFORNIA. 



THE wild fruits of California are numerous, 
and for the most part peculiar to the 
region, being either of local genera or local 
species of more widely distributed genera. 
Very few are identical with the wild fruits 
common to great areas of the continent. For 
this reason our wild fruits constitute a very 
interesting subject for botanical study, and 
they are now, perhaps more widely than ever 
before, attracting the attention of botanical 
pomologists. Viewed from the standpoint 
of practical pomology or horticulture, our 
wild fruits can not be claimed, on the whole, 
to have attained any very great importance. 

A few fruits, as will be noted further on, 
have demonstrated their culinary or house- 
hold value, and are locally sought for, but 
none have any notable commercial value. This 
may be due to the fact that some of our most 
delicious wild fruits are very exacting in their 
choice of conditions, and can not be moved 
far, even within the limits of our own 
State, and presumably would not take kindly 
to longer journeys. 

Another reason why we have made little 
of our own wild species is found in the fact 
that our climate favors the superior growth 
of the best improved fruits of nearly all parts 
of the world. Therefore, we have little oc- 
casion for recourse to the improvement of 
local wild fruits, because of superior hardiness 
and adaptation, as has been done in other 
parts of the country. Neither fruit planters 
nor propagators have given any special atten- 
tion to the wild growths, either for fruit or 
for stocks, although a beginning has been 
made in both these directions, which may ul- 
timately attain importance. The horticulture 
of California wild fruits is a thing of the 
future. 

The distribution of our wild fruits is de- 
termined by limitations of areas of similar 
climatic conditions. In a general way it may 
be said that fruits are most abundant in foot- 



hill and mountain regions, and that our great 
valleys have always been practically destitute 
of them, except along stream borders. These 
fruits are most abundant in the northern por- 
tion of the State, but some exist throughout 
the State, usually thriving at higher eleva- 
tions as they proceed southward. 

Oregon Crabapple (Pirus rivularis). — 
This fruit, though more abundant in the more 
northerly regions of the coast, as its name 
indicates, is found in the northwest counties 
of this State. It chooses a moist situation, 
becomes a tree fifteen to twenty-five feet 
high, shows white bloom, and red or yellow 
oblong fruit, about half an inch long. The 
flavor is rather acid, but the fruit is eaten 
by the Indians, and was sometimes used for 
jelly-making by early settlers. 

Wild Plum (Prunus subcordata). — 
This must be regarded as one of the most 
useful of our wild fruits. Even now, when 
the plum varieties of all the world have been 
introduced, residents in some of the Sierra 
regions, where an excellent variety (Kel- 
loggii) abounds, prefer it to the cultivated 
fruit, both for eating and preserving and 
jelly-making. The typical species is widely 
distributed over the mountainous regions of 
the State, and is a low shrub with white bloom 
and fruit three-quarters of an inch long, of 
red color and inferior pulp. The better va- 
riety has a narrower range, forms a larger 
shrub, and bears a yellow fruit, larger and 
better than the typical species. Some at- 
tempts have been made to improve this va- 
riety by cultivation and selection of seedlings, 
and the results are promising, as fruit has 
been shown at our fairs notably better than 
the wild gatherings. The roots have also 
been used to some extent as stocks, but seem 
to possess no marked advantage. The late 
Mr. Felix Gillet, of Nevada City, reported 
that grafting an improved plum on the wild 



California Wild Fruits 



36 



California Fruits 



stock seems to cause the root to grow to 
much greater size than natural to it. Obser- 
vation upon grafted and non-grafted seed- 
Hngs in the same nursery row convinced him 
of this behavior. Other experimenters have 
condemned the stock because of dwarfing" 
and suckering. In early days the wild plums 
in the mining regions of the mountains were 
largely made use of and are highly praised 
by pioneers. 

Oso Berry (Nuttallia cerasiformis). — 
This fruit is sometimes called the "California 
false plum." It has a plum-like form, one- 
half inch long, and is of a rich, blue-black 
color, but is bitter, though not disagreeable 
to birds and animals, which feed upon it. 
The white bloom of the shrub has an almond 
odor. Used as a stock, the plum varieties 
grafted upon it have been dwarfed. 

Wild Cherries (Prunus sp.). — Quite a 
group of wild fruits come under this generic 
grouping, and they have marked and widely 
dififerent characteristics. The western Choke- 
cherry {Prunus dcinissa) closely resembles 
the Eastern choke-cherry, and bears its round, 
red, or dark purple fruit on a raceme. It is 
used for marmalade by housewives in the 
mountain districts. This species has proved 
of some utility both for its fruit and as a 
stock for grafting in early days when better 
cherrv stock was not available. Another 
species, Islay, (Prunus ilicifolia) has ever- 
green foliage, and is a useful hedge plant. 

Of species bearing fruit in umbels, or true 
cherry style, we have the Bitter Cherry, 
{Prunus eniar ginata) , which makes a hand- 
some tree, sometimes thirty feet high, but its 
oval, dark red fruit is quite bitter and as- 
tringent. The bush form bearing bright red 
fruit intensely bitter, is the variety Califor- 
nica. 

California Grape (Vitis Californica). — 
Along our streams the native grape-vine 
attains large size and fruits freely, the fruit 
resembling the "frost grape" of the East. 
The vine frequently covers and sometimes kills 
large trees with the density of its foliage. 
Some variation is reported in the species, but 
it is possible that some of the better kinds 
are seedlings from some imported species, 
bird planted. The species has attained some- 
thing of a reputation as a phyloxera-resist- 
ing root for grafting, but it has proved ex- 



acting in its choice of soils and situations, 
and otherwise not desirable, and some East- 
ern species are now relied upon for this 
service. 

Elderberry (S.'\.mbucus glauca). — The 
elderberry makes a fine tree in California, 
sometimes twenty feet or more in height, 
and with a trunk a foot and a half in diam- 
eter. The fruit is borne in large quantities 
and is used to some extent for preserves 
and pastry. 

Raspberries (Rubus sp.). — In the moun- 
tains of the eastern part of the State is a 
scarlet hemispherical berry of pleasant flavor, 
which is called '"thimbleberry" {Rubus 
parviflorus). It seems to have an advan- 
tage over a variety {vdutinus) of the same 
species which is found near the coast and 
has a dry, insipid fruit. Another raspberry, 
which is found in all hilly and mountainous 
regions, both on the coast and in the inter- 
ior is Rubus leucodermis. It resembles the 
black-cap raspberry of the Atlantic slope, 
except that it has yellowish-red fruit. This 
fruit is quite largely gathered for domestic 
uses, and some efforts have been made to 
cultivate the plants. 

Salmon Berry (Rubus spectabilis). — 
The beauty, size, and delicious flavor of this 
fruit are highly commended by all who have 
enjoyed it in the upper coast counties of 
California and farther northward. The plant 
makes a strong bush, five to ten feet high, 
and it delights in woods and shady banks 
of streams. The praise of all who know the 
fruit has led to frequent attempts to intro- 
duce the plant to warmer and drier parts of 
the State, but such efforts have thus far uni- 
formly failed. 

Wild Blackberry (Rubus vitifolius). — 
This fruit should perhaps be called a "dew- 
berry," as it has a trailing, or, at most, but 
partially raised stems, which extend from five 
to twenty feet. The plant occurs abundantly 
on banks of streams and other sufficiently 
moist locations, both in the coast and inter- 
ior regions of the State. Around the margin 
of Humboldt Bay, on land cleared by fire or 
axe, blackberries spring up abundantly on 
the denuded land. Tons of the fruit are 
said to remain after the local housewives 
have done their utmost in preserving and 



How to Grow Them 



37 



California \\'ild Fruits 



jelly-making. In the lowland region around 
Stockton considerable quantities are some- 
times gathered for sale. The fruit, which 
has been held in high repute ever since 
pioneer days, is oblong, black, and sweet. 
The species is variable, and the anomaly, a 
white blackberry, has been reported from Del 
Norte County. The native wild blackberry 
is one of the parents of the Loganberry and 
of some of Mr. Burbank's hybrids which are 
widely grown. 

Wild Strawberries (Fragaria sp.). — We 
have in California two Eastern species : Fra- 
garia vcsca and F. J'irginiana. Thus far 
these have only been reported from localities 
in the Sierra mountain region. Another, the 
sand strawberry, has been found identical 
with a South American species, Chilciisis, 
and it occurs along the coast, where the fruit 
is esteemed, and is sometimes abundant 
enough to gather in quantity. A fourth 
species, wood strawberry, is local, and is 
named Califoniica. It bears a small round 
fruit and is partial to the coast region. Re- 
cently some cultural attention has been given 
to the wild strawberries, and varieties worthy 
of propagation have been reported by growers 
resident in the Sierra region. Mr. Albert 
F. Etter of Ettersburg, Humboldt county, 
has secured notable results in crossing with 
the wild strawberry, as will be noted in the 
chapter on that fruit. 

Wild Gooseberries and Currants (Ribes 
sp.). — Some of our currant species are achiev- 
ing quite a reputation abroad as ornamental 
shrubs, but they bear insipid fruit. The 
fruit of Ribes tenuiflorum is, however, more 
agreeable, and is esteemed for jellies, etc., by 
dwellers in its region, which is the mountain 
region of the extreme north of the State. 
We also have a species (Bracteosuin) which 
has something of the black currant flavor and 
a fair-sized fruit, black with whitish bloom, 
and very sweet. 

There are also several species of Ribes 
which are classed with the gooseberries, but 
only three bear edible fruit. One of these 
(Ribes divaricatum) is peculiar to this 
coast; another (Ribes o.ryacanthoides) occurs 
at an elevation in the Sierra Nevada and 
thence extends eastward beyond the Rocky 
Mountains. The berries are small to medium, 
of pleasant flavor, and well armed with spines. 



Another species (Ribes leptanthum), com- 
mon in San Luis Obispo and Kern Counties, 
resembles the flavor of the cultivated goose- 
berry, and is free from spines. 

Cranberries and Huckleberries (Vac- 
ciNiUM sp.). — We have several species be- 
longing to the same botanical genus as the 
Eastern cranberry, but quite different from 
it both in growth of plant and character of 
fruit. The fruit of two species is reddish, 
but insipid. Other species (V. ovatiim, etc.) 
have dark blue or purple fruit. Some of 
these are locally esteemed, and the argu- 
ment drawn from them is that the cranberry 
of commerce would succeed. It should be 
stated, however, that the situations in which 
these plants thrive are not at all according 
to the requirements of the bog cranberry. 
A huckleberry (Vaccinimn ovatmn) is 
largely gathered in the redwood region of 
northern California, for canning and pie- 
making. The berries are juicy and delicious, 
and the preserved fruit has a very agreeable 
flavor. In one year as many as two thous- 
and boxes were profitably gathered on the 
hills of western Sonoma county. 

Other Berries.— There are many small, 
wild fruits, commonly designated as berries, 
which are of considerable botanical interest. 
The fruit, too, may be said to be edible, judg- 
ing by the taste of Indians, birds, and wild 
beasts, but not likely to be much more than 
ornamental in the eyes of white people. 
They may be briefly enumerated : 

The "manzanita" (Arctostaphylos man- 
zanita), the ''little apple" of the Spaniard 
bears a rather dry but sub-acid fruit. 

The "bear berry" (Arctostaphylos nva- 
ursi) is esteemed by the Indians both as food 
and medicine. 

The "western buffalo berry" (Shcpherdia 
argentea), has small acid edible fruits. 

The "salal" (a species of Gaultheria), 
small fruit, either red or purple, is also a 
favorite of the aborigines. 

Of "barberries" we have three species of 
Berberis. One aquifoHum, is called the 
"Oregon grape." chiefly notable for its hand- 
some bloom, which has been chosen the State 
flower of Oregon. The fruit is dark blue, 
and the root is said to be a febrifuge. 
Another species (nervosa) has a larger fruit, 
which is esteemed in cookerv ; and a third 



California Wild Fruits 



38 



California Fruits : 



species (pinnata) bears a small, pleasant- 
flavored fruit. It is the Lena amarilla of 
the Spanish Californians. 

Our "service berry" {Amelanchier alni- 
folia) is from a quarter to a third of an inch 
in diameter and of a purple color. 

The "lemon berry" is a fruit of Rhus iii- 
iegrifolia, and is coated with an acid exu- 
dation which is said to dissolve in water and 
make a pleasant drink. The fruit of Rhus 
trilobata is said to have both a sweet and 
an acid coating. 

The berries of the "toyon" or "tollon" 
(Heteromeles arbutifolia) , or "California 
holly," are said to be eaten by Indians, but 
they serve the white people a better purpose 
in Christmas decorations. 

The "jujube" of commerce (Zicyphus 
jujitba) has a local relative in Zizyphus 
parryi, which is, however, dry, and mealy, 
rather than juicy. 

The "beach strawberry," or "sea fig," is the 
fruit of M eseinbrianthemum aequilaterale, 
2l relative of the ice-plant. The good-sized 
fruit is gathered along the sea-shore, and re- 
motely suggests a strawberry. 

Wild Olive (Forestieria Neo-mExicana). 
— This is a tall willow-like shrub, found in 
springy places on the borders of the Mojave 
Desert. It bears an abundance of small fruits 
which, from their botanical relationship to the 
olive, have attracted some attention. Experi- 
ments to determine its standing as a possible 
root for the olive have been suggested. 

Wild Nuts of Calieornia. — The wild nuts 
of California are of very little commercial 
importance. The wild almond (Prniins 
Andcrsonii) of the eastern slope of the Sierra 
Nevada is chiefly of botanical interest, 
although some experiments are in progress 
in its use as a grafting stock for the sweet 
almond. The California filbert (Corylus 
Californkd), has none of the quality of 
the improved filberts nor even of the wild 
hazelnut. Our chestnut (Castanopsis chrys- 
ophylla) has a sweet kernel, but a hard 
shell, almost like a hazelnut ; its variety, scm- 
pervircns or Bush Chinquapin of the Sierra 



Nevada and dry Coast Range, is said to have 
a bitter flavored kernel. Our native walnut 
(Juglans Californica) is better in flavor 
than the Eastern black walnut, but its hard 
shell makes it of little commercial account 
in competition with better, cultivated nuts. 

The one native nut which is regularly sold 
in the local market is the "pinenut" — seeds of 
several species of Pacific Coast pines, partic- 
ularly the "Nevada Nut Pine" or "One-leaf 
Pinon." Their flavor is somewhat resinous, 
but is agreeable. 

The seeds of two species of palms, IVash- 
ingtonia filifcra and the Lower California 
Erythea armata, are sought for by the In- 
dians, who also eat the sweetish fruit of the 
Yucca Mojavcnsis, which somewhat resem- 
bles in shape the banana, and in flavor the 
fig, and is called the "wild date." 

The Indians also use the acorns of several 
species of California oaks as food, extracting 
the bitterness by soaking in water, and then 
making a rude bread of the acorn meal. 

The "jajoba," or "goat-nut,'' (Simmondsia 
Californica) is a low shrub, the fresh fruits 
of which, deprived of their seed-coats, are 
eaten like almonds, and when dried by fire and 
ground they are used as a beverage, in the 
form of tablets made up with sugar, or as a 
simple infusion. Fire-dried seeds contain 48.30 
per cent of fatty matter ; the oil is suitable for 
food and of good quality, and possesses the 
immense advantage of not turning rancid. In 
Lower California it is prepared by boiling 
with water. 

The nuts of the California laurel were 
roasted bv the native tribes and esteemed a 
great delicacy. Further improvements in the 
preparation process may some day adapt them 
to the white man's tastes. 

C.'\CTus. — The common cactus {Opuntia 
Engelmanni) bears a sweet edible fruit 
which the Indians dry in large quantities for 
winter use. By long boiling they make a 
sauce, which, after slight fermentation, they 
consider especially nutritious and stimulating. 
The local species has been used by Mr. Bur- 
bank in some of his crossing to secure im- 
proved spineless fruits on plants of more 
vigorous growth and productiveness. 



How to Grow Them 



39 



California Mission Fruits 



CHAPTER V. 



CALIFORNIA MISSION FRUITS 



CULTIVATED fruits were first brought 
into California from the south. Mission 
work among the Indians of Lower California 
was actually begun by the establishment of the 
mission at Loreto by Salvatierra, October 19, 
1697. The following years horses and cattle 
were brought from Mexico, and from this in- 
troduction came ultimately the vast herds 
which roamed the hills and plains of Cali- 
fornia. Probably the first seeds and plants of 
cultivated vegetables and fruits came about 
the same time, for there was a small garden 
and a few fruit trees at Loreto in 1701. But 
Loreto was not fitted for horticulture, and in 
the same year an expedition in charge of 
Father Ugarte, who is called the founder of 
agriculture in Lower California, crossed over 
the mountain to a more suitable location at 
the mission of ^'igge Biaundo, which had been 
destroyed some time before by hostile Indians. 
Ugarte restored the mission, made irrigating 
ditches, and planted fruit trees and vines. This 
effort was successful from a horticultural 
point of view, for in 1707 Ugarte made more 
wine than would suffice for mission use, and 
sent some to Mexico in exchange for other 
goods. Thus began the export trade in Cal- 
ifornia wine. 

The Jesuits continued their establishment of 
missions in Lower California until there were 
fifteen missions, at five of which there were 
vineyards, and presumably as many or more 
which had gardens with fruit trees. 

The variety of fruits grown in Lower Cali- 
fornia was small. They had figs, oranges, 
citrons, pomegranates, plantains, and some 
olives and dates. There were no North Eu- 
ropean fruits, with the exception of a few 
peaches, which, however, did not appear to 
thrive. 

The Jesuits were supplanted in Lower Cal- 
ifornia, in 1768, by the Franciscans. The 
Franciscans, led by Junipero Serra, at once 
pressed northward, and entered the territory 
which is now the State of California. Their 



first establishment was at San Diego, in 1769 
Thence they proceeded northward, braving 
many perils, and undergoing great hardships, 
establishing missions through the coast region 
of the State. Credit is given to the secular 
head of the expedition to San Diego, Don 
Joseph de Galvez, representing the king of 
Spain, for ordering the carrying of seeds of 
fruits, grains, vegetables, and flowers into the 
new territory, and from the planting at San 
Diego the same varieties were taken to the 
twenty missions afterwards established. 

Kinds of Fruit at the Missions. — It is 
of no little interest to ascertain how great a 
variety of fruits was grown in these mission 
orchards. Vancouver, in 1792, found a fine 
orchard at Santa Clara, with apple, peach, 
pear, apricot, and fig trees, all thrifty and 
promising. He also describes at the mission 
of San Buena Ventura apples, pears, plums, 
figs, oranges, grapes, and peaches and pome- 
granates. Robinson described the orchards 
connected with the Mission of San Gabriel as 
very extensive, having among their trees 
oranges, citrons, limes, apples, pears, peaches, 
pomegranates, and figs. There were also 
grapes in abundance. Edwin Bryant noticed 
at San Luis Obispo Mission the orange, fig, 
palm, olive, and grape. At the Mission San 
Jose he found an inclosure of fifteen or 
twenty acres, the whole of which was planted 
with trees and grape-vines. There were six 
hundred pear trees and a large number of 
apple and peach trees, all bearing fruit in 
great abundance and in full perfection. The 
quality of the pears he found excellent, but the 
apples and peaches indifferent. E. S. Capron, 
in a general enumeration of the fruits grown 
at the missions, includes cherries. 

Early Planting by Others than the 
Padres. — Though the earlier Spanish popu- 
lation had the example of successful horti- 
culture before them for half a century at the 



Decline of Mission Orchards 



40 



California Frnits : 



missions, they did not seem inclined to emulate 
the efforts of the padres upon their own 
grounds, except in occasional instances. Gen- 
eral Vallejo planted fruit trees in Sonoma 
Valley as early as 1830, and of his place it is 
said : "It is an old and well-cultivated place, 
well known in all the northern portion of Cal- 
ifornia while this State was still Mexican ter- 
ritory." Exceptions there were, also, at the 
south. The old fruit garden on the Cum- 
ulos Rancho, in Ventura County, has become 
famous. Fremont, writing of his observa- 
tions in 1846, says that among the arid, brush- 
covered hills south of San Diego he found 
little valleys converted by a single spring into 
crowded gardens, where pears, peaches, 
quinces, pomegranates, grapes, olives, and 
other fruits grew luxuriantly together. 

Scarcely had six years elapsed subsequent 
to the settlement of the pueblo of San Jose on 
its present site, before the inhabitants were 
enjoying the benefits of luxurious fruits. Be- 
fore 1805 more was grown than could be dis- 
posed of in its natural state. 

Decline oe the Mission Orchards. — The 
decline of most of the mission orchards and 
gardens followed the secularization of the es- 
tablishments in 1834. There were a few ex- 
ceptions, where the mission lands fell into en- 
terprising Spanish or American hands. Dur- 
ing the years of neglect, the more tender trees 
died, and the more hardy survived. The pear 
and the olive vied with the vine in withstand- 
ing drouth and the trampling and browsing 
of the cattle that roamed unmolested through 
the deserted gardens. These pears, as will be 
described presently, were turned to good ac- 
count by the early American settlers ; the 
olive and the vine furnished cuttings for most 
of the plantations made during the first twenty 
years or nTore of American occupation. 

But it seems that not all the mission or- 
chards were permitted to fall into decay after 
the secularization. In 1846 Bryant found at 
the Mission San Jose two gardens inclosed 
by high adobe walls. The area was from 
fifteen to twenty acres, all of which was plant- 
ed with fruit trees and vines. There were 
about six hundred pear trees and a large 
number of apple and peach trees, all bearing 
fruit in great abundance, the quality of the 
pears being excellent, the apples and peaches 
indifferent. Other visitors to some of the 
mission orchards between the events of secu- 



larization and American occupation speak of 
being regaled with pears and milk, a dish 
which seemed to them ambrosial after the 
weary journeys overland across the deserts, 
or after months of ship fare. 

Planting of Mission Fruits by Early 
Settlers — There were quite considerable 
plantations, chiefly of mission grapes and or- 
anges, by early settlers in the neighborhood 
of Los Angeles. General Bidweli saw in Los 
Angeles in 1845 the largest vineyards that he 
had seen in California, and the vines were 
the most thrifty. Wine was also abundant, 
— even the Angelica. Los Angeles had or- 
chards, also, mostly of oranges. The largest 
orange orchards at that time were those of 
Wolfskin, Carpenter, and Louis Vigne. Dur- 
ing recent years the modern city of Los An- 
geles has been built over and beyond them. 

Among the early planters of mission fruits in 
the northern part of the State was Yount, 
who planted vines in Napa Valley in 1838. 
and other fruits later. John Wolfskill, of 
Winters, saw grapes and peaches at Yount's 
in 1841, and J. M. Pleasant took peach pits 
from Yount's over into Pleasant's Val- 
ley, Solano County, in 1851. Dr. Marsh, 
on his place at the base of Mount Diablo, 
had, in 1842, a mission grape vineyard more 
than an acre in extent, and in good bearing. 
The vines were planted about 1838. Mr. 
Wolfskill planted a few vines on Putah Creek 
in 1842. 

Partial Revival of the Mission Fruit 
Gardens. — After the incoming of Americans 
in 1849 some of the old mission trees were se- 
cured by enterprising men, and made to re- 
new their youth by pruning, cultivation, and 
irrigation, that they might minister to the 
great demand for fruit which sprang up 
among the gold seekers. The trees richly 
reciprocated the care and attention given 
them and there still exist at the San Gabriel 
Mission old pear trees grafted over with im- 
proved varieties by W. M. Stockton in 1854. 
The first fruits offered for sale in San Fran- 
cisco markets were from the pear trees of 
Santa Clara and San Jose Missions, and from 
the mission grape-vines of the same localities, 
and of Los Angeles County. These grapes, 
packed in sawdust, came up the coast by 
steamer, and were then re-shipped to the min- 
ing camps, arriving for the most part in good 
condition, and were very popular. It is re- 



How to Grow Them 



41 



Russian Fruits 



corded that one thousand five hundred tons 
of these grapes were sent from Los Angeles 
County to San Francisco and the mines in 
1852. Another instance in which thrift fol- 
lowed neglect is seen in the fact that, in 1858, 
Don Andres Pico, who succeeded to posses- 
sion of the orchard at the San Fernando Mis- 
sion, did a considerable business in drying 
pears and other fruits, using the labor of 
the Indians. 

At the present time vestiges of the old mis- 
sion orchards still remain, the pears and 
olives still bearing, and in some cases the 
old date palms guarding the desolate scenes, 
or standing as reminders of the old regime, 
while the new life of California is surging 
up around them. 

RUSSIAN FRUITS. 

The second introduction of cultivated fruits 
to California was by the Russians. The exrct 



date of their planting at Fort Ross on the 
ocean side in Mendocino County is not known, 
but is believed to have been as early as 181 2. 
The survivors of the original Russian plant- 
ing look "very old and mossy, and are not 
very thrifty, but still bear some fruit every 
year." They were planted too closely, and 
have undergone periods of neglect, no doubt. 
The trees are apple for the most part, but 
there were also cherries, and some of both 
fruits survive. The trees are all believed 
to have been grown from seed, and if this 
be true some fortunate results were obtained, 
for there is still grown in Green Valley, So- 
noma County, a medium-sized, bell-shaped 
apple, lightly striped with red, which is called 
the Fort Ross or Russian apple, and was 
probably propagated by grafts from the Fort 
Ross orchard. Seeds were also secured from 
this source for propagation of apple trees in 
early days in that section of the State. 




Improved Fruit Varieties 



42 



California Fruits : 



CHAPTER VI. 



INTRODUCTION OF NEW FRUIT VARIETIES. 



■"T HE first cultivated fruits of the old era 
1 came to California with the padres. The 
first fruits of the new era came with the 
American pioneers. Though not a little 
inquiry has been made, it is not yet possible 
to declare definitely who brought the first 
budded or grafted trees upon California 
soil. It is a tradition in the family of 
Martin Leiong, who came to California as 
a member of Stevenson's regiment in 1846, 
that he brought with him a small lot of 
French varieties of apples growing in a box, 
and that they were planted in Los Angeles. 

In the fall of 1849 W. H. Nash joined with 
R. L. Kilburn in ordering from a nursery in 
western New York a small box of thirty-six 
fruit trees, which, packed in moss, well sur- 
vived the journey around the Horn, arriving 
and being planted in Napa Valley in the 
spring of 1850. The shipment included Rhode 
Island Greening, Roxbury Russet, Winesap, 
Red Romanite, Esopus Spitzenburg apples ; 
Bartlett and Seckel pears ; Black Tartarian 
and Napoleon Bigarreau cherries. 

Before this introduction of grafted fruit 
trees, and, indeed, for several years after- 
wards, there were many shipments of fruit- 
tree seeds from the eastern States to Cali- 
fornia. Mr. Barnett planted Kentucky seed 
as early as 1847 i" Napa County. T. K. 
Stewart brought to California with him, in 
1848, about two hundred pounds of vegetable 
and fruit seeds, the latter including peach, 
pear and apple, all of which were planted on 
the American River, within the present limits 
of Sacramento, in the spring of 1849. At 
the same time he planted figs and olives, and, 
in 1 85 1, seeds of oranges. From all these he 
secured bearing trees. 

But these early efforts at improvement of 
California fruits were but faint forerunners of 
the zeal and enterprise which followed the 
great invasion by gold seekers. As soon as 
the first thought — to get gold directly from 



the soil — would admit the second — to get it 
indirectly, by agricultural and horticultural 
arts — there came a demand for something 
better than the wild fruits of the mountains, 
better and more abundant than the fruits from 
the mission orchards. At first everything in 
the line of fruit-tree seed which could be ob- 
tained was planted. Thus the immediate vi- 
cinity of the mines soon began to show grow- 
ing fruit trees. But seedlings of any kind 
would not satisfy the planters, and effort was 
put forth in every direction after grafted 
trees of the best varieties. Oregon had a few 
years the start of California as an inviting 
field for immigration, and the advantage also 
of winning the attention of those who went 
out, not as gold seekers, but as agricultural 
producers. Oregon had grafted trees in bear- 
ing, and nursery stock as well, about the time 
the demand sprang up for it in California. 
Its introduction was then, however, of very 
recent date. Up to 1847 the cultivated fruit 
of Oregon consisted of seedlings introduced 
by the Hudson Bay Company and by early 
settlers from the Mississippi Valley. In that 
year occurred the first considerable, if not the 
very first, introduction of grafted fruit upon 
the Pacific Coast. The story of that venture 
has been so often wrongly told that it is well 
to record its interesting incidents in the words 
of one quite near to the event, if not actually 
participating in it. Seth Lewelling, of Mil- 
waukee, Oregon, writes : 



In 1847 my brother, Henderson Lewelling, crossed 
the plains from Henry County, Iowa, to Oregon, 
bringing with him a pretty general variety of grafted 
fruits. He fitted up a wagon for the purpose, selec- 
ted small plants, and planted them in soil in the 
boxes and watered them to keep them alive. He told 
me that in some places he had to carry water a mile 
up the mountains to save his trees. When he arrived 
in Oregon, iate in the fall, he had something over 
three hundred plants alive. The same fall William 
Meek arrived in Oregon with a few varieties of fruit 
trees. He and my brother put their stock together, 
and commenced the first nursery of grafted fruits 



How to Grow Them 



43 



Improved Fruit Varieties 



on the Pacific Coast. It was situated five miles 
south of Portland, just below Milwaukee, on the east 
bank of the Willamette River. For want of seedling 
stock they could not increase their nursery much 
until, in 1850. my brother John and I crossed the 
plains, bringing with us some apple seed, which we 
planted that winter. We also found a gentleman 
named Pugh, in Washington County, Oregon, who 
had planted some apple seed in the spring of 1850, 
which had grown well, and we bought his stock. 
During the winter of 1850-51 we put in about twenty 
thousand grafts. In March, 1851, I went to Sacra- 
mento, taking with me a box of grafts of apple, pear, 
peach, plum and cherry, and sold them in Sacra- 
mento. I believe I have the honor of being the first 
to distribute grafted fruit in California. 

Other Early Introductions. — The intro- 
duction of grafted trees, for sale by Mr. Lew- 
elling in the spring of 1 85 1, was quickly 
followed by other commercial importations, 
and by shipirients by planters for their own 
use, so that the plantings of 1851-52 were 
quite large. Still there was great doubt as 
to the success of the trees. The late G. G. 
Briggs, after his great melon profits of 1851, 
went back to New York State for his family, 
and, returning to California, brought with him, 
as he says, "with no idea that they would suc- 
ceed, but as a reminder of home,'' fifty peach 
and a few apple and pear trees. To his sur- 
prise the trees grew well in 1852, and the 
next year blossomed and bore some of the 
best peaches he ever saw. The pears also 
bore some fine fruit the same year. 

Besides the introduction of grafted trees 
which have been mentioned there were others 
in 1852, for, at a fair held in San Francisco in 
1853, there were several kinds of apples, 
grown by Isaac A. Morgan, of Bolinas, on 
trees planted the previous year. Apples were 
also shown from Napa. David Spence, of 
Monterey, showed the first almonds grown in 
California. During the winter of 1825-53 the 
distribution of grafted trees must have extend- 
ed widely over the State. Five dollars for a 
small tree was frequently paid at the nursery 
of Meek & Lewelling, in Milwaukee, Oregon, 
and the trees were carried overland into the 
mining districts of California, as well as 
brought to San Francisco for distribution 
through the valleys. 

Fruit Gardens, not Orchards. — It is in- 
teresting to note that much of the pioneer 
eflfort was expended upon fruit gardens rather 
than fruit orchards. Two ideas, at least, led 
in this direction. r)ne was the popular 
thought, which, however, was very early 
found to be erroneous, that frequent and cop- 



ious irrigation was essential to the growth of 
fruit in this dry climate. Another was the 
ambition, which was correct, both from a hor- 
ticultural and commercial point of view, to se- 
cure the fruit just as soon as possible, for the 
double purpose of determining what was 
adapted to the novel conditions, and to secure 
the magnificent prices which fruit commanded 
in the market. For these ends dwarfing 
stocks naturally suggested themselves, and 
were employed to an extent which seems won- 
derful when it is remembered that now hardly 
a fruit tree in the State is worked upon a 
dwarfing stock. Very early, say from '52 to 
'58, at San Jose, Oakland, Stockton and Sac- 
ramento, small areas, which would now only 
be considered respectable house lots, were 
turned to great profit with dwarf pear and 
apple trees. The place of Mr. Fountain, near 
Oakland, was called, in 1857, "The finest or- 
chard of dwarf trees in the State." It con- 
sisted of three acres set with one thousand 
six hundred apple and pear trees, all dwart 
from root grafts, two years old, and four feet 
high, and most of them in good bearing. He 
started the branches from the ground, pruning 
severely, and heading in during the winter. 
He claimed that dwarfing gave him better 
and larger fruit, and from two to three years 
sooner than with standard trees. He did not 
irrigate, but plowed frequently, four inches 
deep, up to the first of June. 

But though these dwarf-tree gardens were 
formally declared "to be the fashion,'' and 
though the list of stock of one Sacramento 
nurseryman, in 1858, included ninety-five stan- 
dard and eight thousand and sixty-eight dwarf 
pear trees for sale, the foundations of the 
greater orchards were early laid upon the 
basis of standard trees. Thus the Briggs' 
orchard, of one thousand acres, on the moist 
land of the Yuba, was planted with trees six- 
teen feet apart each way, and Mr. Lewelling, 
and other early planters 00 the rich lands of 
central Alameda County, adopted about the 
same distance. 

Quite in contrast, too, with the prevalence 
of dwarf trees, and contemporaneous with it, 
was the grand plan upon which the pioneer 
of pioneers. General Sutter, laid out his or- 
chard on Hock Farm, on the west bank of 
the Feather River, eight miles from its junc- 
tion with the Yuba, of which the following 
description was written about the time the 
trees were coming into bearing : 



The First OversupiDly 



44 



California Fruits : 



Several acres were set apart for an ornamental 
fruit orchard, the trees and shrubs being so arranged 
as to present a unique landscape garden, nearly 
every article in which is productive of fruit. The 
arrangement of the fruit trees is peculiar, a large 
portion of them being set on either side of the broad 
avenues opening through the extensive grounds in 
various directions, imparting to the whole an air 
of picturesque beauty seldom seen. 

But neither the narrow dwarf-tree garden 
plan nor the broad landscape-garden plan has 
survived. Neither of them harmonized with 
the commercial idea of orcharding — large pro- 
duction and economy of cultivation, and both 
are now but curiosities of the early horti- 
culture of California. 

Irrigation Abandoned. — The early aban- 
donment of dwarf trees suggests also the early 
abandonment of irrigation in the valleys of 
Northern California — as early as 1856. Fa- 
cilities which had been secured for irriga- 
tion of orchards were allowed to go unused, 
because it was seen that it was better not to 
use them. One case is reported in Napa 
County where means to furnish the orchard 
with thirty thousand gallons of water per day 
were allowed to lie idle. The substitution of 
cultivation for water, of course, attended this 
reform. The announcement of a practice, in 
1856, "to plow deep, dig wide and deep holes 
for planting, and work the ground from Feb- 
ruary to July, allowing no grass or weeds to 
grow among the trees," shows that the 
thorough and clean culture, for which Cali- 
fornia is famous, is not a recent idea in our 
practice. Even the abandonment of the plow, 
and almost weekly use of the cultivator, was 
the practice of some growers in the San Jose 
district before i860. In fact, the descriptions 
of orchard management in that day include 
nearly the whole variety of methods which 
now prevail. The experience of the two de- 
cades has shown that irrigation facilities are 
more valuable even for deciduous fruits than 
was once thought possible. This proposition 
will be discussed in the chapter on irrigation. 

Early Wisdom and Enterprise. — It is evi- 
dent to anyone who studies the records, that 
California was very fortunate in numbering 
among the early settlers so many rnen with 
horticultural tastes, skill, and experience. 
The rapidity with which fruit trees were tnul- 
tiplied, and the confidence with which these 
early comers entered upon the nursery busi- 
ness, shows their training. Although there 



were many trees brought here from the East 
and from Europe, they constituted only a 
very small percentage of the plantings of the 
first few years, hut the orchards, with the ex- 
ception of a very small number of trees in- 
troduced to furnish grafting and budding 
stock, were the product of the soil. When 
this is borne in mind, it becomes all the more 
wonderful how so much could be done in a 
new country, in a distant part of the world, 
in so very short a time. It was an obser- 
vation which was put upon record as early 
as 1856, that "some varieties of fruit are 
much improved by change to this State, and 
some are not benefited." The test seems to 
have been that if a variety was not better 
than at the East, it should be discarded. 

The First Oversupply. — The wonderful 
stimulus given to the fruit interest by the 
results attained in growth and in marketing, 
soon induced larger plantings than the de- 
mand warranted. In 1857 it was publicly 
stated that "there are single farins in this 
State, containing each over half a million 
fruit trees in orchard and nursery — one per- 
son owning enough trees, when fully ma- 
tured, to produce as much fruit, other than 
grapes, as will be sold this year throughout 
our State. The day is not far distant when 
fruit will be an important crop for raising 
and fattening swine." This was, to a certain 
extent, a statement of a croaker, for planta- 
tions continued, rare varieties were brought 
from the East, the South, and from Europe; 
the growth of some fruits continued to be 
very profitable, and the nursery business, 
confined to fewer hands, was profitable also. 
The idea that quality rather than size should 
be striven for led to more discrimination in 
propagation and better treatment of trees. 

The decade from 1858 to 1868 was one of 
quiet in the fruit interest of California. 
Many of the too hastily and carelessly plant- 
ed trees died from lack of proper cultivation 
and pruning, and the borer wrought sad 
havoc. In i860 and 1861 there was serious 
depression. It is recorded that peaches were 
worth but one cent a pound, and many were 
allowed to go to waste as not worth gather- 
ing. The flood of 1862 destroyed many trees 
along the Sacramento River, and replanting 
was slow until prices began to improve, as 
thev did soon afterward. The rapid devel- 
opment of the mining interest in Nevada, and 



How to Grow Them 



45 



Fruit Interests in 190S 



the construction of roads across the Sierras, 
opened the way for the disposition of much 
fruit grown in the foot-hills and in the region 
around Sacramento. 

The imports of dried and canned fruits 
were large, and growers were exhorted to 
take steps to secure this trade for them- 
selves. Something was done in this direc- 
tion, for by 1867 the local product of canned 
fruit was equal to the demand. Drying did 
not advance so fast ; for two years later there 
were imports of six thousand barrels of dried 
apples, while the hundreds of thousands of 
bushels of the fruit were rotting under the 
trees in our orchards. 

The decade under review was also notable 
for the first appearance of cured raisins and 
prunes at the State fair of 1863. The raisins 
were from the Muscat of Alexandria grape, 
and the report states that so-called raisins ex- 
hibited previous to that time were merely 
dried grapes. Dr. J. Strentzel, of Martinez, 
was the first exhibitor of Muscat raisins, and 
he exhibited also dried grapes of four va- 
rieties to show the contrast between a raisin 
and a dried grape. J. R. Nickerson, of Pla- 
cer County, exhibited the dried prunes, which 
were of the German variety. 

Though this decade was one of uncertainty 
and doubt, there were rich lessons of ex- 
perience learned, and the foundations for 
coming greatness were well laid. Many of 
our leading lines of production trace their be- 
ginnings to this period, and their later de- 
velopments have been beyond any anticipa- 
tions then cherished. 

The New Era. — Another era in California 
may be marked as beginning with the year 
1869, because then the first fresh fruits were 
sent East over the newly-opened overland line. 
The first, season's shipments amounted to 
thirty-three tons of pears, apples, grapes, and 
plums ; in 1870 seventy car-loads, or about 
seven hundred tons were sent. 

The Eastern shipment of fresh fruits be- 
gan its new era with the year 1886, when the 
first full train load of fifteen cars of fresh 
fruit from deciduous trees went overland. 
Shipping train loads of oranges from South- 
ern California began at an earlier date. 

During the present decade shipments of 
fruit and fruit products have increased until 



a very large aggregate in weight and value 
has been attained. The volume of shipments 
beyond State lines is shown by the statement 
on the next page compiled from the records 
of the State Board of Trade. 

The Fruit Interest in 1908. — The fruit 
interests of California now constitute the 
greatest single industry of California and the 
fruit output of California is far greater than 
that of any other State in the union. Nota- 
ble progress has been secured in planting, in 
the growth, preparation and marketing of the 
product, in the contest with injurious insects 
and plant diseases, and, in fact, in all things 
which contribute to success. It is true that 
there are problems still unsolved, and there 
have been grievious losses to individuals who 
have proceeded upon too great expectations 
or have erred in location for various fruits. 
Such mishaps will be less frequent in the 
future. At present there is a disposition to 
proceed more cautiously and to profit by the 
lessons which have been learned, many of 
which will be mentioned in their proper places 
in later chapters. 

Some dimensions of the present fruit inter- 
ests may be suggested by the following statis- 
tics which have been carefully compiled from 
reports of the supervisors of the counties sub- 
mitted to the State Agricultural Society in 
accordance with the law of 1905. These 
reports are published, unfortunately, without 
summaries, in the Report of the Society for 
1906. The figures for a few counties which 
did not comply with the law are supplied 
from other sources. (See page 47.) 

The total acreage in 1898 was 542,399; 
since that year there has been a gain of nearly 
fifty-four per cent. 

It is interesting to estimate the total value 
of the annual products of California trees and 
vines using the best data and judgment avail- 
able. Valuation has advanced more than pro 
rata with increased acreage of improved 
market demand, due to better handling and 
distribution. 

These amounts, which are averages of 
several recent years, are of available surplus 
for distant shipment. They do not include 
the local consumption by two millions of fruit- 
loving people in California. 



California Fruit Shipments 



46 



California Fruits : 



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How to Grow Them 



47 



California Fruit Development 



Number and acreage of fruit trees and vines in California, 1906. 



FRUIT 


Bearine 


Non-Bearing 


Total 


Acreage 


Apple 


1,869,593 


753,345 


2,612,938 


34,389 


Apricot 


2,314,325 


365,961 


2,680,286 


33,503 


Cherry 


551,146 


120,520 


671,666 


8,955 


Fig 


269,500 


200,881 


470,381 


5,879 


Lemon 


1,336 225 


2.50,185 


1,586,410 


19,830 


Orange 


8,085,644 


2.290,505 


10,376,149 


129,701 


Lime 


2,960 


750 


3,710 


37 


Pomelo 


23,576 


5,090 


28.655 


358 


—Olive 


1,342,653 


206.377 


1,549,030 


19,362 


Peach 


5,526,175 


1,855.595 


7,381,770 


92,272 


Nectarine 


68,638 


47,781 


116,419 


1,455 




36,871 


7,643 


44,514 


451 


Pear 


1,500,378 


281,886 


1 782,264 


22,278 




7,589,902 


799,535 


8 389,437 


104,867 


Plum 


1,050,646 


318,904 


1,369,550 


17,119 


Almond 


1,222,384 


220,600 


1,442,984 


18,037 


Walnut 


669,557 


327 312 


966,869 


33,217 




4,434 


1,935 


6,369 


159 


Pecan 


2,295 


108 


2,406 


60 




215,433 


65,815 




281,248 




10.561 


79 




10,640 








Totals 


33,460,902* 


8,054,913* 


41,511,807 


833,267 


*Acreage of grapes and small fruit omitted. 









Valuation of a year's horticultural products. 



KINDS 

Fresh, deciduous 

Citrus 

Dried, deciduous 

Raisins 

Nuts 

Canned, deciduous 

Olive products 

Win e 

Brandy 

Total valuation. . . 



Pounds 

2.30,167,200 
908,166,800 
236,958,600 
125,000,000 
14,000,000 
180,000,000 


Selling price 
per pound 

2c. 
2c. 
6o. 
4c. 
lOo. 
5o. 

2Ve.* 

8e.t 


Value 

$ 4,603,344 

18,16,3,376 

14,217,516 

5,000.000 

1,400,000 

9,000,000 

500,000 

6,000,000 

1,500,000 

$60,384,236 


240,000,000 
12,000,000 



* Basis of 20c. per gal. 



t Basis of 60c. per gal. 



INFLUENCE OF THE FRUIT INDUS- 
TRIES UPON CALIFORNIA DE- 
VELOPMENT. 

Enlistment in California fruit growing has 
proved exceedingly satisfactory to tens of 
thousands of people in the various ways 
along which they have approached it. The 
fruit districts are full of cottage homes shel- 
tering families of those who have begun with 
small investments and have made a good 
livelihood, and often considerably more, from 
a few acres of fruits grown largely without 



expenditure for hired labor. The study of 
the needs of the tree or vine and ministering 
to them by personal effort has brought new 
health and new incentive to the worn and 
weary who have taken up outdoor life and 
activity in California fruit growing with a 
wise choice of location, land and fruits, for 
obviously in all investments one must be wise 
as well as willing. 

In large operations hundreds have notably 
succeeded by purchasing good land in large 
tracts at low rates and making ample invest- 
ment for its development and improvement. ■ 



Outlook of Industry 



48 



California Fruits : 



Some of the most delightful of our towns 
and villages have arisen as a direct result of 
such employment of capital. Well established 
communities, well churched and schooled, well 
provided for in local trade and transportation 
and widely known citizens, have followed in- 
vestment money and devoted effort in colony 
enterprises. 

Hundreds, also, have purchased large tracts 
of wild land and have developed fine estates 
for their own personal gratification, with 
thriving orchards of all kinds of fruits, rich 
pastures tenanted with improved livestock, 
parks, gardens and buildings comparable with 
the estates of the European nobility, except 
that California conditions favor freedom and 
variety in outdoor effort unknown in Europe, 
and command proportional interest and en- 
thusiasm. Estates for winter residences in 
California are exceptionally desirable, not 
only because of natural advantages and 
greater possibilities of development, but be- 
cause of the advanced standing of the State 
financially and socially. 

All of these lines of effort then — home- 
making in a small way, colony enterprise and 
private estate development — have yielded on 
the whole great satisfaction and success. 
Fruit growing has been the central idea in 
nearly all of them, but it is obvious that ac- 
tivity in any productive line begets opportu- 
nity for other lines, and so all branches of 
agriculture have advanced and the diversifi- 
cation is highly desirable. Opportunities in 
manufacture, trade and professional effort of 
all kinds have been quickly seized and de- 
veloped with much originality and success. 
Fruit growing has created them all and has 
in turn been advanced by all, for every ac- 
cumulation of capital promotes it. Success- 
ful toilers in all lines become planters. The 
ancestral delight of the race, to sit beneath 
one's own vine or fig tree, is nowhere more 
enthusiastically manifested than in California, 
and nowhere else does the emotion of com- 
fort in ownership yield such profound and 
protracted satisfaction. 

THE OUTLOOK OF THE INDUSTRY. 

The outlook for California fruits and fruit 
products involves considerations of much 
economic interest. Though the volume is al- 
ready large and there may be experienced 



now and then temporary dullness or depres- 
sion in this line or that, the business is on 
the whole brisk and profitable. There is 
such a wide range in the fruits grown and 
the products made from them, and such 
changes in local conditions in the many pur- 
chasing States and foreign countries with 
which Californians deal, that there must be 
some fluctuations in the values of some of the 
supplies offered in distant market. The re- 
sult is that first one fruit and then another 
one seems to be more or less profitable. The 
fact, however, that all are increasing in vol- 
ume and the total traffic brings each year 
more money to the State, is a demonstration 
of the standing of the collective output. 
Each year new markets are found, both at 
home and abroad, and the capacity of old 
centers of distribution is shown to be greater 
than anticipated. There is every reason to 
except that the products can be profitably mul- 
tiplied. There have been secured, largely 
through cooperative efforts of growers so 
many improvements in handling and trans- 
portation that distant shipment has become 
more safe and profitable and distribution far 
wider. It is reasonable to believe that further 
improvement in movement and reduction of 
cost will be realized and the per capita con- 
sumption in the populous parts of our own 
country proportionally advanced. In spite of 
all that wintry States can do for local supplies, 
California can find open markets before and 
after the short ripening season of the Eastern 
States for her early and late fruits, and can 
use her own midseason fruits in the drying 
and canning industries, though it is a fact 
that in the height of the Eastern fruit sea- 
son a considerable quantity of California 
fruit will command the highest prices be- 
cause of its exceptional size, beauty and keep- 
ing qualities. The citrus fruits, so long as 
they are allow-ed to remain under the favor- 
ing tariff which now exists, will continue to 
supply an American product of exceptional 
quality and freshness, while prunes, nuts, 
raisins and wines will not only do this, but 
will push forward into the trade of Europe, 
as they are now beginning to do in a most 
vigorous manner. A very significant report 
was made by one of the United States Con- 
suls in France recently that our canned and 
dried fruits were appearing on the shelves of 
all the provision shops of the smaller French 



to Grow Them 



49 



Orchard of the Pacific 



towns and were being freely sold without re- 
ducing the prices of the locally grown fruit. 
Practically the same thing could be said of 
points in Germany and other European coun- 
tries. The fact is that European countries 
cannot grow fruit enough to supply their 
own people and fruit has been largely a 
luxury. California dried fruits are being wel- 
comed by the great middle classes and are 
likely to become a staple of their diet. This 
explains the ultimate disposition of the large 
amounts now going direct from California to 
Europe. 

California's exports of high-class food sup- 
plies to European countries are likely to 
reach values like those of the wheat and bar- 
ley which we are now sending to that part 
of the world. The development of adjacent 
territory on the American continent and other 
Pacific countries may shape the future of Cal- 
ifornia as a fruit producing State in a wav 
which can at present only be dreamed about. 
It should be remembered that California has 
a unique character from a horticultural point 
of view. Not only does the State have a 
monopoly of semi-tropical conditions of the 
United States (excepting small parts of the 
Gulf States and Arizona), but California has 
comiliand of the whole of northwest America 
and the whole of northeast Asia, not only in 
the supply of semi-tropical fruits, but in 
early ripening of hardy fruits as well. 

California does not grow tropical fruits, as 
has already been conceded in Chapter J. 
They must come from the islands and the 
tropical south coast countries. Semi-tropical 
fruits are, however, vastly more important in 
commerce than tropical, and a region which 
successfully combines northern orchard fruits 
with the whole semi-tropical class commands 
the fruit trade of all accessible populous re- 
gions which have limited fruit capabilities. 
There are now four such regions witii the kind 
of population which makes for industrial ad- 
vancement — Southern Europe, South Africa, 
parts of Australia and California. As already 
shown, we are competing successfully with 



South Europe in the capacious markets of 
North Europe. South Africa and Australia are 
unfortunate in lying in the southern hemi- 
sphere which is mostly ocean wastes, and they 
are handicapped by tropic crossing in their nor- 
thern shipments, although the fact of opposite 
seasons may help them, and also us, in avoid- 
ing competition of trade which both desire. 
California will soon be less than half as far 
sea from European and Atlantic coast ports 
as at present, but California in the future 
will have less occasion for such distant re- 
courses. Prophets, far-seeing in world 
courses, declare that the Pacific ocean is to be 
the arena for commerce greater than the world 
has yet seen and the Pacific coast countries 
are to contain the greater part of the world's 
population. This greatest quartosphere with 
its superlative opportunities and activities will 
have California as its treasure house of fruits 
and fruit products. During the long winter 
the citrus fruits will aliford tonic and refresh- 
ment, and before hardy fruits bloom in north- 
ern climes the same fruits will appear from 
the early ripening districts of California. In 
this traffic California will not only be practi- 
cally without a competitor, but, sitting beside 
the sea, there will also be every advantage 
of water transportation and the sustaining 
ocean temperatures for the fruits in transit. 
California dried and canned fruits will ren- 
der acceptable diet even through the most 
Arctic stretches along which development may 
advance in North America and North Asia, 
while a succession of fresh fruits will flow to 
all Pacific ports throughout the year. Cali- 
fornia, too, will be the winter residence for 
all the North Pacific millionaires and the ha- 
ven of rest and recuperation for all who are 
worn by Artie cold or tropic heat throughout 
the great circle of the Pacific ocean. Here 
the arts will flourish, education attain its 
highest achievements and culture prevail. 
Then fruit growing both as a commercial en- 
terprise and as a hoine delight will attain 
value, volume and perfection, of which pres- 
ent achievements are but a faint foreshadow- 



PART TWO: CULTURAL. 



How to Grow Them 



53 



Clearing Land for Fruit 



CHAPTER VII. 

CLEARING LAND FOR FRL'IT. 



THE greater part of the orchard and vine- 
yard area of this State was naturally 
almost clear for planting. The removal of large 
trees, which paid the cost of the work in fire- 
wood, or the grubbing out of willows on some 
especially rich bottom land, was about the • 
extent of clearing which our earlier planters 
had to undertake, and many of them perhaps 
never had to. lift an ax. Still there has always 
been some clearing done, here and there, even 
since the earliest days, especially upon hill 
lands, the peculiar value of which for some 
fruits is generally recognized. 

The lands which need clearing are in the 
main the foot-hill slopes of the Coast Range 
and the Sierra Nevada. In the south there 
is besides, sometimes, the debris of the desert 
flora to clear away when water is secured and 
the rich wilderness is subdued. This work is, 
however, so easily accomplished that it hardly 
rises to the dignity of "clearing," as under- 
stood by the Eastern mind. 

It is not possible in this connection to 
enumerate all of the great variety of shrubs 
and trees which the settler lays low in his 
clearing. The grand trees which figure most 
largely in lumbering operations are not met 
with as a rule in foot-hill clearings. The trees 
which the settler encounters are rather the 
degraded valley growths, which, though as- 
suming grand proportions in the valleys, be- 
come "scrubs"' amid the harsher environment 
of the hillsides. This is notably true of the 
oaks and of some other trees. 

Ch.\mis.al and Chaparr.m.. — Of true 
shrubs to be removed, it will only be possible 
to name a few of the most abundant. The 
common manzanita ( A rctostal^ltylos maiica- 
iiita) occurs on dr\- ridges everywhere, both 
on the coast and at great elevations, some- 
times only growing a few inches from the 
ground, sometimes rising eight or ten feet. 



Next to this, perhaps, the two terms which 
the land clearer has most to use are "chapar- 
ral" and "chamisal." To distinguish between 
them it may be said, however, that the terni 
chamisal properly applies to the shrub Adc- 
iiostoma fasciciilatum var. obtusifolium, which 
is abundant on dr\- soils in the Coast Ranges 
and more rarely in the foot-hills of the Sierra 
Nevada, often covering extensive areas with 
dense and almost impenetrable growth, pro- 
ducing an effect on the landscape like that of 
the heaths of the Old World. Another spe- 
cies, A. sparsifolium. with narrow, scatteretl 
leaves, is sometimes abundant on the moun- 
tains east of San Diego. 

By chaparral is generally meant shrubs of 
several species of Ccaiiothus, forming dense 
thickets and giving its name to certain soils 
on which it most abounds, both in the Sierra 
foot-hills and the hillsides of the Coast Range, 
where it is known as California lilac. The 
genus includes the ''flat brushes." as they are 
called, from their traiUng on the ground, or 
low, horizontal shoots. 

Other Small Growths. — Shrubs of fre- 
quent occurrence also are the jx)ison oak 
(i?/iMj diversiloba), chiefly on the north sides 
of hills in all parts of the State, but most 
abundant in the Coast Ranges, and other 
species of Rhus which are not poisonous : the 
hazel nut {Corylus rostrata). which has been 
mentioned in the chapter on wild fruits ; the 
buckthorns, several species of rhammiis. well 
distributed on the hillsides and mountains of 
the State. 

In some parts of the State there are also 
large areas of sage-brush or wormwood made 
up of several species of Artemisia, sage or 
chia, two species of Salvia, and the famous 
white and black sages of the bee-keepers, 
which are species of Aiidibertia. occurring 
chieflv on the mountains of Southern Cali- 



Cost of Clearing 



54 



California Fruits 



fornia. Add to these the spireas, the azaleas, 
the rhododendrons, the sweet-scented shrubs 
(Calycaiitliiis), etc., and include nearly all 
the wild fruit trees, bushes and vines men- 
tioned in a previous chapter, and one will 
gain the idea that though California is widely 
considered a bare State, the land clearer has 
a host of plants confronting him and disput- 
ing his right to the soil. 

Cost of ClE.xrixg. — The cost of clearing 
on the foot-hill slopes of the Sierra Nevada 
and the Coast Ranges is too variable to ad- 
mit of estimates except such as may be made 
on the spot by experienced persons. The 
cost varies, of course, according to the den- 
sity of the growth of trees and underbrush, 
and the rate of wages to be paid. Though in 
some cases higher cost is reached, probably as 
a rule the expense of clearing will be from 
$5.00 to $30.00 per acre, less whatever the fire- 
wood might be worth. In exceptional cases, 
where there is a large growth and a good 
wood market near by, the wood may pay the 
expense or more; even the roots of chaparral 
sometimes sell in our cities at $3.00 or $4.00 
per cord. It sometimes happens that char- 
coal can be produced to advantage; in fact, 
there are now orchards upon land which was 
secured in the first instance for the charcoal 
to be made upon it. Usually, however, the 
clearing is an item of expense and must be 
reduced as much as possible by working in 
the most economical and effective way. 

Though in most cases of clearing by the 
actual settler himself the problem is merely 
one of muscle and persistence, some few hints 
may be given from the experience of others 
which may be useful. Spare time during the 
summer and fall can often be used to advan- 
tage with a sharp ax in trimming up the smal- 
ler trees, which are large enough to yield 
fencing material, and getting out posts from 
the redwoods and oaks, and rails and pickets 
from the pines. By thus using the waste ma- 
terial the settler can often get out enough 
fencing material to inclose his land and thus 
save considerable expense. Brush, too, which 
can not be made use of, can be lopped off — 
in short, all the sharp ax work can be done 
in a dry time. The actual clearing, however, 
should be done in winter, when the ground is 
wet and soft, and digging is easy or "snaking 
out" is possible. 



Parti.xl .\nd Thorough Cle.vrings. — Or- 
chards are planted on both partially and 
thoroughly cleared land. By the former prac- 
tice clearing enough is done to give space for 
the tree holes, the debris is burned up, and 
the trees planted. In this kind of work the 
stumps are left to be taken out at a convenient 
season, the object being to get fruit trees to 
growing as soon as possible. Where one is 
working with little more than his own muscle, 
and has no capital, this sort of planting is 
better, perhaps, than not planting at all, but 
it must be borne in mind that all subsequent 
work will be done at a great disadvantage, 
and as cultivation is likely to be very imper- 
fect, it would be a question whether in the 
end anything would be gained by such a plan. 
The encumbered character of the ground will, 
of course, prevent the use of the horse in cul- 
tivation until most of the stumps are removed. 
Aside from this, decaying stumps and roots in 
the soil often kill the young trees ; especially 
is this the case with old oak stumps. 

Clearing of land for orchard or vineyard 
is a very dififerent thing from clearing for 
pasture, as is done in the redwood region of 
the northwest Coast Ranges of the State, 
where the stumps are untouched ; the trees 
not taken by the lumberman are girdled and 
left a prey to decay and storms, and the 
brush slashed and burned every few years to 
prevent it from completely taking possession 
of the land. Clearing for fruit should be 
thorough, everything which will interfere with 
good cultivation removed ; roots grubbed so 
that as little shooting up as possible is se- 
cured ; the ground evened up to obviate stand- 
ing water, and, where needed, arrangements 
made for irrigation and ilrainage, as will be 
considered later. 

Remo\'.\l of Trees. — The first operation in 
clearing will be the removal of the trees. 
This can be partly done in the dry season if 
one has unemployed time. In such case the 
tree is felled and worked up into fire-wood 
and the stump left for subsequent treatment 
when the ground is moist. Unless there is 
idle time to employ, the whole work can, how- 
ever, be better done in the winter, for then 
the top of the tree may be made to help pull 
out its own roots. This is done sometimes 
by digging out the soil and cutting off the 
main lateral roots below the depth to which 



How to Grow Them 



55 



Removiiio- Shrubs 



the plow will reach. By thus reducing its 
anchorage fhe tree will topple over, or may 
be pulled over with a team and tackle, and 
it will usually lift out its stump quite effec- 
tively. 

A Steam Puui.Er. — An arrangement for 
tearing out trees without digging has been 
used to some extent in Santa Cruz County, 
which is said to handle redwood trees up to 
four feet in diameter successfully. It con- 
sists of a portable engine and a "puller,"' 
which is a windlass operated by steam, from 
which a wire cable is carried to the tree 
which is to be pulled down. A strong chain 
is put around the tree at a distance above 
the ground proportioned to its diameter 
in such a way as to give necessary leverage. 
The immensely strong hook at the end 
of the cable is attached to this chain 
and the cable is slowly wound upon the 
reel. The coil begins to grow taut, a dull 
creak and strain are heard as the roots begin 
to be torn from the earth. Two chains are 
used, a second tree being prepared while the 
first is falling, that no time may be lost. The 
cable is detached from the falling tree, and a 
horse draws it from amid the debris of fallen 
foliage to the next victim. The extraction of 
roots by this method of pulling is said to be 
very complete, and the earth is loosened to a 
considerable depth. 

Powerful traction engines, manufactured 
for hauling combined harvesters and steam 
plows, have also been very successfully used 
for the removal of large trees in land clear- 



HoRSE- Power Stump Pullers. — The use 
of horse-power devices for tree felling and 
.stump extraction has increased considerably 
of late. The one which has achieved good 
results is a local invention called the "Cali- 
fornia Stump Puller." It is simply a specially- 
designed capstan worked by one horse, with 
a wire cable five-eighths of an inch in diame- 
ter, an improved snatch block, chains, and a 
drafthook to unite the cable with the chains. 
Power is applied to the capstan with a sweep. 
It is calculated that with this device, properly 
adjusted, one horse is enabled to produce an 
effect equal to the capacity of 60 horses with- 
out it, and that a 1200-pound horse which 
can move a dead weight of one and a half 
tons for a short distance can move a dead 



weight of 90 tons with the devices employed 
in the machine. It is so rapidly adjustable 
that on one trial in Napa County eighteen 
stumps were pulled in eighteen minutes, long 
roots coming clear out of the ground with 
each stump. 

The Use of Powder. — Another means for 
the removal both of stumps and of growing 
trees which has come into quite wide use dur- 
ing the last few years, is high explosives, 
which have vastly cheapened the clearing of 
lands where either large trees or stumps have 
to be removed. Full instructions for the use 
of powder are furnished by the agents in San 
Francisco, and they often send an expert to 
start the work and give instruction if there 
is much to be done. It has been estimated 
that the cost of handling trees and stumps 
with explosives is less than one-fifth that by 
hand grubbing, and the ratio of saving in- 
creases as the trees are larger, as powder is 
cheaper than muscle. 

Removing Shrubs and Brush. — In the 
case of removing shrubs of a somewhat tall 
growth, the top is made to help out the roots. 
This is done either with a good strong rope 
or a chain. To do this requires two men and 
a pair of horses, and two chains, each ten or 
twelve feet long. A chain should be placed 
around the bush some distance above the 
ground, to give leverage. If the bush is 
not removed at the first pull, start the horses 
in the opposite direction. While the driver 
is unfastening the chain from the chaparral, 
the second man can place the other chain 
around another bush, and the one who gets 
through his work first should at once assist 
the other. In this way the horses are kept in 
constant employment, and neither of the men 
need lose a moment's time. This work should 
be done when the ground is thoroughly wet. 

Where manzanita grows somewhat upright, 
as it does on the hills north of the bay, the 
same methods of extraction can be employed 
with it, first slashing off enough to allow ad- 
justing the rope or chain a few feet above the 
ground. Where it grows lower, as, for ex- 
ample, on the hills of Santa Clara, the man- 
zanita brush is gone over with a roller so as 
to break it down, and then the land is burned 
over. The roller should be of the ordinary 
farm pattern, but rigged with a tiller (header 
fashion) so that the horses can push the rol- 



Burning of Debris 



56 



California Fruits 



ler and walk over the flattened brush. The 
only object of the rolling is to smash the 
brush down so that it will burn readily. 
When the brush is got rid of in this way, the 
plow is trusted to get rid of the roots. The 
plow should be of the pattern known as 
"prairie breaker," without coulter. Horses 
should be shod with a plate of sheet iron be- 
tween the shoe and hoof to prevent snagging, 
and not less than four of them used. Much 
of the Santa Clara County vine belt was 
cleared in that way. Of course this method 
only answers for the lighter-rooted growths; 
tough-rooted chaparrel, oak, holly, etc., must 
be grubbed out, unless the roots are snaked 
out by the tops, as has been described. 

^Marketable Products of Clearing. — 
Whether any money can be made from the 
results of clearing depends altogether upon 
local markets for wood and charcoal and the 
cost of transportation to them. From clear- 
ings near large towns enough can be some- 
times had to pay for the work and hauling, 
and along railways wood can often be shipped 
with profit. This can only be learned by 
local inquiries. 

Charcoal Burning. — Charcoal can usual- 
ly be sold to advantage, and wood can some- 
times be profitably disposed of in this way 
when it can not be marketed for fuel. A 
considerable acreage of unprofitable fruit trees 
has been disposed of in this way receiitly. 
Charcoal is made from most kinds of wood, 
and sometimes stumps and large roots are 
charred. A simple process of charcoal burn- 
ing is given by an experienced burner as 
follows : 

To burn a pit of charcoal, tlie prime necessity is to 
perform the process of combustion with the least pos- 
sible contact with air. Select a suitable place not 
too far from the dwelling, because the operation 
must be watched from time to time by night as well 
as by day. It is not necessary to dig much of a 
"pit'' in the ground. Choose hard limbs of pine, 
spruce or whatever wood is most available of that 
kind. Dry, dead limbs, if not decayed, take for 
choice. Set them up wigwam fashion, close together, 
fitting them as well as they will allow, the apex 
forming the chimney. Be careful to keep that chim- 
ney free, because the fire should be there applied to 
brisk "kindling" as far down as possible. Build 
round and round, taking the precaution to lay three 
or four straight pieces, three or four inches in di- 
ameter, along the ground from the outside to the 
center. These may have to be withdrawn to promote 
tlie draught. 



The wood all being in place it is now required to 
cover it thoroughly. In the absence oi turf or sods, 
it must be thatched with leafy green boughs, or 
anything that will prevent the earth or dirt that is 
now heaped on from running through. Pack this 
soil covering carefully, exclude air as far as possi- 
ble, except when the port-holes referred to near the 
ground are needed. The direction of the wind will 
determine which ones are to be opened. When the 
fire — after a few hours, more or less, according to 
the materials — has got a good hold, close also the 
chimney. Visit the pit regularly night and day; 
lessen or increase the draught as may seem needed ; 
and in a week or ten days the two or three cords 
of wood should be turned into good hard coal. 
When uncovered, water or dirt should be thrown 
upon coal that is too lively when spread out on the 
ground. 

Cutting to Kill Brush. — Just when to 
cut to kill depends upon the character of the 
growth and of the season. One conclusion 
seems to be that with deciduous growths the 
best time to cut is when they have just made 
their most vigorous growth, and this is in the 
summer — but the month to be chosen for the 
work will depend upon the location, though 
August is generally selected as the best time. 

In the case of evergreens, the cutting should 
be just before the coldest weather, in which 
they are the nearest dormant. Evergreens, 
however, differ much in tenacity of life, for 
while most kinds are easily killed, the Califor- 
nia redwood will endure almost any abuse 
with ax or fire and still spring up repeatedly 
and persistently for 3'ears. 

The Use of Sheep on Sprouts. — On 
sprouting brush, there is, perhaps, no cheaper 
or more effective means of repression than 
sheep and goats. They are used after the 
top growth is cleared away instead of grub- 
bing, if one can wait, for by their persistent 
cutting down of growth, many small stumps 
and roots will decay enough in a year or 
two to be plowed out with a strong team and 
plow. 

Burning of the Debris. — However the 
trees and underbrush may be wrenched from 
the soil, fire is the final clearer. Where trees 
are to be worked up into fire-wood, it should 
be done as soon as they are felled, for the 
work is much less than after they become dry 
and hard. If it is not designed to break the 
land the first winter, the wood is left to sea- 
son and it becomes lighter and easier to 
handle. The brush and roots, if no use is to 
be made of them, can be left to lie on the 



How to Grow Them 



57 



Leveling and Draining 



clearing to dry out during the following sum- 
mer, and after the first fains of the following 
fall the whole area can be burned over. Such 
stumps as do not burn with the brush must 
be gathered in piles and re-fired. Burning 
before the first rain should not be attempted, 
unless it be in exceptional situations, because 
of the danger of communicating fire to the 
surrounding country, which is a standing 
danger in our dry climate. Under the present 
law it becomes necessary to secure permission 
from the State Forester at Sacramento before 
starting field fires in the dry season. After 
the rain, clean up the ground perfectly. 

First Crop ox a Cle.\ring. — It is the 
opinion of some clearers in the redwood re- 
gion that the soil is not fit for fruit trees the 
first year after the original growth is re- 
moved, and they grow a field crop the first 
year. They claim that peas are the best cor- 
rective of "redwood poisoning," and fortu- 
nately in the upper redwood district they have 
a climate well suited to the pea. Whether 
their theory is right or not, their practice is 
of advantage, because they get a better cul- 
tivation and aeration of the soil, and kill out 
much of the sprouting from the old roots, 
which is usually quite persistent in the moister 
parts of the State. Usually the tree and vine 
planter is in such haste to realize from his 
labor that he does not allow the first year to 
go for any side issue. 

Surface Leveling and Draining. — There 
is often occasion to clear the land of stone 
and rocks. The latter should be blasted out 
of the way so that the land may be clear for 
the plow and cultivator. Once in a while one 
will come upon a stone wall inclosing an or- 
chard in this State, as trim and true a wall 
as the most thrifty New England farmer can 
boast, but walls are not common. Our valley 
orchard lands are, as a rule, naturally as free 
from stone as they are from underbrush, but 
on the hills it is different. Probablv the best 



way to dispose of much of the stone is to dig 
trenches in the natural water runs, put in 
stone, cover with small brush, and then with 
soil deep enough so the plow will not reach 
the brush. This disposes of the stone for all 
time, and at the same time helps to drain the 
soil. Concerning other treatment of the land 
after the rubbish is removed, P. W. Butler 
writes as follows : 

When water runs are wide, lateral ditches should 
be cut extending entirely through the moist areas. 
If during the rainy season a nni is likely to have 
more water than can be conveyed properly through 
a covered trench, it should be left open and graded 
so that a team can cross it, and for fifteen feet on 
each side sow to red-top. In this way the land can 
be utilized that would be worthless for trees, and 
the red-top, that can be grown at a profit, will take 
the place of unsightly weeds, that would otherwise 
grow at the point that can not be cultivated. 

To distribute the work more evenly through the 
first year buildings can be erected, a well dug. and 
the trenching done in the dry season, while all the 
grubbing, leveling, plowing and planting must be 
done the following season, as soon as the ground is 
sufficiently moistened. .^.11 depressions where water 
would stand should be filled, and all fiat places 
should be graded until water will readily fiow off, 
and not be retained so near the surface of the ground 
as to cause it to become soured. This leveling can 
be be^t done by one man and a pair of horses. Plow 
the adjacent elevated land and scrape into the places 
to be filled. The land is now ready for plowing and 
should be done thoroughly, subsoiling to as great 
a depth as the removal of the stumps will allow. It 
is now well to go over the ground again with the 
scraper and level all the most elevated points so they 
can be readily reached by water in irrigating. Then 
cross-plow as deeply as possible without again sub- 
soiling, harrow and drag, and the ground will be 
ready to plant. 

Air. Butler writes with reference to the 
foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, where irriga- 
tion must be practised. Where irrigation is 
not used, leveling, or rather grading, may be 
unnecessary, but it is often quite desirable 
that there may be no depressions to retain 
surplus water. The life of the trees and 
ease of cultivation may demand this unless the 
soil should be light and deep enough to allow 
free drainage. 



The Nursery 



58 



California Fruits 



CHAPTER VIII. 



NURSERY OPERATIONS IN CALIFORNIA. 



CALIFORXIA nurser_v stock is unrivaled 
in growth, health, and vigor. This is the 
verdict of all the visiting horticulturists, and 
has been formally declared by the victories of 
California tree growers at the World's Fairs 
held in this country, where the highest prem- 
iums were awarded to Californians in nearly 
all classes in which they exhibited since 1885. 

The quality of the trees which can be pur- 
chased at our nurseries, and the very reason- 
able rates at which they are sold make it 
little worth while for the orchard planter 
to try to grow his own trees. In fact, the 
investment called for to purchase a good 
assortment of well-grown trees will be one 
of the best which the orchard planter can 
make. The professional grower, if he is 
honest and enterprising, can give the pur- 
chaser the advantage of his experience and 
skill in the choice of stocks suited to his soil, 
varieties of fruit adapted to his situation, and 
be of assistance to him in other ways con- 
nected with his enterprise ; and such helps 
to an inexperienced planter or to a newcomer 
are very valuable. There may be, however, 
some reader who is distant from established 
nurseries, or possessed of limited means, who 
may like to use his spare time in growing 
his own trees, and to such suggestions are 
offered. There will, however, be very much 
which can be learned only by actual ex- 
perience. 

In the selection of location for a commer- 
cial nursery there are matters involved which 
it is not proposed to discuss. Attention will 
be paid rather to matters connected with 
what may be called a farm nursery. The 
first point will be the selection of a small 
piece of ground which oflfers proper soil, 
exposure, and, in some parts of the State, 
facilities for irrigation. 

Proper Soil for Ni'rsery. — The soil should 
be a mellow loam, easy of cultivation and not 
disposed to crust and crack. In all respects 
what one would choo.se as a rich, kind garden 



soil will answer well for the nursery. The 
soil should be moist, but thoroughly drained, 
either naturally or artificially, for time and 
labor will be largely wasted on a water-logged 
soil. In this respect a soil which might yield 
fair crops of some shallow-rooting vege- 
tables would not always be suitable for young 
trees, which, to do well, must have favorable 
conditions to send the roots to considerable 
depth. Good spots are often found in the 
rich loam along the banks of creeks, as in 
such situations one finds generally a deep 
alluvium, well drained by the creek. But 
such situations, if liable to overflow, should 
be rejected because standing water is not good 
for trees, and because the soil will be apt 
to be soaked with water and inaccessible 
just at the time when the trees should be 
lifted for transplanting to orchard. 

It is not always possible to find an ideal 
nursery spot on every ranch, but still trees 
may be well grown on less favorable places 
if attention is given to correcting natural 
defects. For example, if the soil be naturally 
heavy, it may be improved somewhat by 
repeated plowing and cultivation during the 
year before starting the trees. If it be an 
adobe, its mechanical condition may be 
greatly improved by the application of a top 
dressing of lime at the rate of six hundred 
to one thousand pounds of lime to the acre. 
For this purpose "lime waste," which contains 
both lime and wood ashes, can be had cheaply 
at the kilns. Old plaster which may have 
been left from house repairs is excellent. 
Even builders" lime would not be very 
expensive, for but little would be required 
for so small a plot of land as a farm nursery 
would need to cover. The lime will increase 
the amount of plant food in a heavv soil as 
well as render it more friable. Another way 
in which a small area of heavy soil may be 
improved is by the addition of sand. A few 
loads of sand, if it can be had near by, will 
remove the tendency to crack, and will act as 
mulch to prevent evaporation of moisture. If 



How to Grow Them 



59 



Situation and Exposure 



the soil be very loose and subject to too rapid 
drying out, the remedy will be moderate 
irrigation during the summer, but it should 
cease early enough to allow the young 
trees to ripen their wood before the frosts of 
autumn. Mulches of various light, fine 
materials, rotted straw and the like, may be 
used to advantage among the young seedlings 
in preventing drying out of the soil, if the 
plot is to be hand-worked, but such materials 
are apt to be in the way of neat, thorough, 
work with the horse. A mulch of sand, if 
available, is not open to this objection. 

In choosing soil for a nursery, a piece of 
land which has been in cultivation for garden 
or field crops is to be preferred over a newly- 
cleared piece. It is often the case that soil 
from which old stumps or shoots have re- 
cently been removed has become soured from 
the processes of decay iu the dead wood. 
Although the deposits of humus from decay 
of woody fiber tends to enrich the soil, after- 
wards certain acids are formed if the land 
lies without cultivation. These are not 
favorable to the growth of young roots, and 
a crop to which as much time is given as 
a crop of young trees, should not be placed 
upon it. This evil quality in the soil is 
removed by cultivation and aeration, or may 
be corrected by the application of lime. This 
state of soil is most complained of in con- 
nection with old stumps and roots of oak 
trees. 

SiTU.\TioN .'XND Exposure. — Warmth in the 
soil is necessary to a good growth, and a good 
year's growth is essential to the production 
of a satisfactory tree. Drainage contributes 
notably to the warmth of the soil. Exposure 
is also of importance. Plenty of sunshine and 
protection from cold winds are to be secured. 
Sometimes a little elevation is desirable. 
It would be a serious mistake to seek moist, 
low land if the piece lies at the bottom of a 
little valley or depression where the cold 
air settles during the night and frosts are 
frequent. In such cases choose higher 
ground. Of course, in broad, open valleys 
there is not this objection, for such season- 
able frosts as may be expected there are not 
injurious to deciduous nursery stock. The 
greatest nurseries in the State are in the 
open \a'-leys, not on the lowest ground, 
however, in all cases, but on what would be 



called good, rich valley land. There are. 
however, situations in the thermal belts in 
which the temperature does not fall low 
enough to check growth of deciduous trees 
and cause the leaves to drop. In such cases 
it has been found desirable to select lower 
and colder ground for the nursery of decid- 
uous trees. 

Prep.\r.\tiox of Nursery Ground. — The 
best preparation for nursery ground is the 
growth, the previous season, of a cultivated or 
hoed crop. This will secure frequent working of 
the soil, thorough pulverization of the clods, 
etc. The produce of the hoed crop should 
thus pay the cost of putting the land in good 
condition, at least. Where the retention of 
moisture is an object, as it really is in some 
parts of the State where the annual rainfall 
is sometimes small and no facilities for irri- 
gation provided, it will perhaps pay better 
in the end to keep the land iu bare fallow 
during the previous summer ; but there must 
be frequent and thorough cultivation, keeping 
the surface always mellow, or more moisture 
will be lost by evaporation than a hoed crop 
would require for its growth. Properly 
cultivated fallow soil will have moisture 
within a few inches of the surface, while 
unworked soil adjoining will be baked hard 
and dry to a depth of several feet. During 
the winter immediately preceding planting, 
the green stufif should be allowed to grow 
for a time, but should be plowed under 
before it gets high enough to interfere with 
perfect turning of smooth furrows. The decay 
of this green crop is of advantage to the soil. 
Another plowing in the spring, and a 
thorough harrowing, will leave the ground 
in good condition to receive the pits or 
root grafts as the case may be. In this 
plowing for nursery there should be deep 
work done and subsoiling, as will be more 
fully set forth under the head of preparing 
land for orchard, to which the reader is 
referred. 

Growth of Seedlings for the- Nursery. 
— The two chief ways 'of producing fruit 
trees are, first, from seedlings grown on the 
spot ; second, from buds and root grafts upon 
stock imported from the East or from abroad. 
First, as to the growth of seedlings : 

It is usual to take seeds from sources where 
thev can be collected with the least trouble. 



Seedlinp'S 



60 



California Fruits : 



Apple seeds are washed out from the pomace 
of the cider press ; apples and pears from the 
coring and peelings of canneries and drying 
establishments ; pits of the stone fruits are 
derived from the same source. Supplies can 
usually be purchased from such establishments 
at a moderate cost. The trouble is that from 
such supplies one is apt to get seeds and pits 
from all varieties, possessing different degrees 
of health and vigor. There is just as much 
to be gained from selecting the seed from 
which to grow good strong stocks for fruit 
trees as there is in selecting good garden or 
field seed. One can generally get good peach 
pits, for it is easy to have the order filled 
when the cannery is running on strong-grow- 
ing yellow varieties, for these are believed 
to be most vigorous, and yet some claim much 
preference for pits from vigorous seedling 
trees, and make extra efforts to secuie them. 
Wherever it is possible, and if one is only 
to produce a small lot of trees it is practicable, 
to select from the fruit the seeds for plant- 
ing. Not only is there great dift'erence in 
the strength of different varieties, but in- 
dividual trees vary greatly. If one is tak- 
ing seed from an old orchard to start his 
nursery with, he can take pains to get his 
seed from his strongest trees, and thus 
secure also that which is probably best 
adapted to his locality. 

Apple and Pear Seedlings. — For a small 
lot of apple and pear trees the seed can be 
best sown in boxes. Select plump pips and 
keep in moist sand, from the time they are 
taken from the fruit until sowing. Fill the 
boxes, which should be three or four inches 
deep, with good garden mold, cover, the seed 
about half an inch, and then cover the soil 
lightly with chaff or fine straw to prevent 
the surface from drying out. Be sure that 
the boxes have cracks or holes in the bottom 
for drainage, and the whole is kept moist but 
not wet. When the seedlings have grown to 
the height of three inches, they can be set 
out in the nursery rows as one would set out 
cabbage plants. 

Cherry Seedlings. — There are different 
ways of handling pits of stone fruits to pre- 
pare them for setting out in open ground, 
which will be described. The cherry is grown 
from pits of two wild varieties ; one is com- 
monly called the "Black Mazzard." It is the 



common wild cherry of the East, and is the 
original type of what are known as the Heart 
and Bigarreau types of cherries. The other 
is the "Mahaleb," a European wild species, 
which is used in the East where it thrives 
better than the Mazzard, as it is hardier 
stock. In this State the Mahaleb does not 
seem to have much dwarfing effect as trees 
on that stock in this State over twenty-five 
years old are twenty-five inches in diameter 
of trunk. The Mahaleb, however, ripens its 
wood earlier, and for this reason may be 
valuable in the colder parts of the State. 
It is also freer from root trouble by extremes 
of wetness and drouth in the soil and is 
largely used on low lands. The Mazzard is, 
however, chiefly used in California. Cherry 
stones are sometimes taken from the fully- 
ripened fruit, dried for two or three days, 
the stones cracked carefully and planted at 
once in good soil and kept properly moist. 
They will germinate soon and make a growth 
of a foot or so the first season. Such stocks 
are taken up for grafting in the winter and 
set out in nursery row the next spring. A 
better way of treating cherry is that given 
by W. W. Smith, of Vacaville: 

The fruit of the Mazzard should be allowed to get 
perfectly ripe on the tree, then gathered and let lie 
in a heap for three or four days, so that they may 
be partially or wholly freed from the pulp by wash- 
ing them in water. They should then be spread out 
in the shade and stirred frequently for about twenty- 
four hours. This will give the outside of the pit 
time to dry sufficiently to prevent molding, while 
the kernel itself will remain fresh and green. They 
should then be placed in moist (not wet) sand and 
kept so until the rains set in in the fall, when they 
can be planted in drills, in good, rich, mellow soil 
prepared the previous spring and kept clean of weeds 
through the summer, ready for the purpose. They 
should never be allowed to get perfectly dry; and the 
reason for it is that we have but little or no freez- 
reason for it is that we have but little or no freez- 
ing and thawing weather in this country to cause 
the pits to open ; but if they are kept constantly 
moist it answers the same purpose as freezing. The 
seeds of the Mahaleb cherry will sprout with less 
difficulty, but the same rules for keeping the Maz- 
zards will apply to them. 

Citrus Fruits. — The propagation of citrus 
fruits will be described in detail in Chapters 
XXXI I and XXXIII. 

The Larger Stone Fruits. — In handling- 
pits of the larger stone fruits, apricot, peach, 
plum, etc., the chief requisite is to prevent 
drying and great hardening of the pit. Some 



How to Grow Them 



61 



Nut Tree Seedlinofs 



plant iu the fall and trust to natural condi- 
tions to start the seedling in the spring, but 
this interferes with the cultivation of the 
ground, and leaves the seedling to grow in 
soil which has perhaps been puddled by heavy 
winter rains. There must also be much hand 
work done to clear the rows from weeds. It 
is much better to keep the pits from drying 
by covering with sand moderately moist, 
hasten the sprouting by appropriate treat- 
ment towards spring, and then plant out in 
thoroughly prepared soil, and they will make 
a satisfactory growth. The following method, 
by D. J. Parmele, of \'acaville, has given 
good results : 

Keep the pits out of the sun until the rains com- 
mence in the fall, then put them into a box about a 
foot deep with openings at the bottom for drainage, 
and scatter sand or fine earth through them, putting 
about two inches on top, and place them under the 
eaves of a building on the south side, where they 
will get well soaked every time it rains. If there 
should be a long dry spell during the winter, water 
them a little. About March they will open and 
sprout. Then take a plow and open a deep furrow 
in loose, mellow ground, and, with a hoe, pull about 
two-thirds of the dirt back into the furrow, break- 
ing the clods, and making it fine, the same as you 
would if you expected to plant onion seed there. 
Drop the sprouted pits in straight line, and cover 
two inches. On account of the extra work in pre- 
paring the ground, the trees will be large enough to 
bud in July. 

Another way is to spread out the pits on 
a smooth piece of ground and cover with 
sacks, and over these a layer of straw three 
or fotir inches thick to retain moisture. The 
pits may be planted out as soon as they crack 
open, although no harm will be done if they 
are allowed to lie until the sprouts are well 
out. 

Another method which has been especially 
recommended for treatment for almonds is 
the following : Lay boards upon the ground 
and cover them with an inch of sand ; spread 
on this a layer of almonds and then another 
inch of sand, and so on. Keep the pile wet, 
and in three weeks of warm weather they 
will burst open. Plant in drills one inch 
deep and put over them a light coat of rotten 
straw. 

If from any cause the pits have become 
quite dry, they should be soaked in water 
two or three days before planting. 

Nut Tree Seedlings. — In growing nut- 
tree seedlings much the same methods are 



followed as with pits of stone fruits. There 
are methods described in detail by California 
growers which should be given. As has been 
said, the nuts may be planted at any time 
after ripening, in the milder parts of the 
State, if the grower will undertake the 
greater care and cultivation. On some light 
soils where the rainfall is not excessive, this 
is not much trouble. Felix Gillet, of Ne- 
vada City, gives this as his method : 

The nuts may be planted as soon as gathered, 
though in Nevada City it is too cold to plant them 
in the fall, for the frost in winter would surely lift 
the nuts right out of the ground. For keeping and 
sprouting walnuts, I throw into the bottom of a bo.x \ 
one mch deep of sand, then a layer of nuts ; put in 
another inch of sand, and another layer of nuts, and 
so on to one or two inches from the top. Then 
water well with a sprinkler and water again during 
the winter whenever the sand gets too dry. The 
sand has to be pretty well saturated with water, 
especially from the first of January down to planting 
time, which is in February, March, or April, accord- 
ing to localities. ■ The latter part of March or first 
week in April is best for Nevada City. The nuts 
are planted in drills and covered to a depth of two to 
three inches. 

In propagating chestnuts it is always better to 
select for seed the largest, finest, and healthiest nuts; 
in the fail or beginning of winter the nuts have to 
be planted in a box of damp .■■■and, by layers, the box 
being kept in a cellar. The nuts may be stored 
in a hole in the open ground, a layer of chestnut 
leaves being first thrown in the bottom of the hole, 
on top of that a layer of nuts, then another layer 
of leaves, and so on to the top, which has to be 
properly covered with two or three inches of earth 
so as to prevent the frost injuring the nuts. In 
February or March, according to location, the nuts 
are taken out and planted in drills to a depth of 
three to four inches; less for smaller seed like Ameri- 
can chestnuts. 

In growing seedlings of English walnuts, 
Mr. J. Luther Bowers of Santa Clara has 
shown that water-soaking of nuts may make 
it unnecessary to undertake storage in damp 
sand, if the nuts are of the last crop. He 
describes the method as follows : 

"The nuts should be large and thin shelled and 
sh.ould l)e of last year's crop. To ascertain this, 
break a few and split the kernel open at the germ 
end, or the point where the root starts. If the 
meat of the kernel shows a clear white color they 
are of last year's crop, but if the flesh shows any 
discoloration they are old and will not germinate. 
I have often got hold of a lot that were mixed, old 
and new together. Never risk a lot of this kind, for 
failure will follow. After the nuts have been selected 
place them in some kind of tin vessel; a five-gallon 
oil can, with the top removed, is just the thing. 
Then cover them with hot water at not over no 
degrees F. Let them remain in this water for 24 



Trees from Cuttines 



62 



California Fruits : 



hours and plant at once, keeping them in the water 
all the time. Do not let them become the least bit 
dry. and be snre the soil is moist, and pnt every nnt 
in with the sharp point exactly straight down. The 
root starts from this point and will go straight down, 
and if not molested will the first year be about three 
times the length of the top; that is. if the top grows 
one foot, the straight tap root will be three feet or 
more long, and will be from three-fourths to an 
inch thick where it grew out of the nut, tapering 
both up and down." 

Imported Seedlings. — A very large pro- 
portion of -some kinds of the cherry, pear and 
apple trees produced in this State are worked 
upon imported seedHng stocks. These stocks 
are cheap, convenient to handle, and are 
therefore popular. It is easy enough to grow 
peach, almond, apricot, and Myrobalan seed- 
lings, but small seeds, like apple and pear, 
often do not show up well in the spring, es- 
pecially if the soil is of a kind that crusts 
over with rain and sunshine. Therefore our 
nurserymen import these seedlings in the win- 
ter, plant them out, as has already been de- 
scribed, and bud in the following summer, 
grafting the next spring where the buds fail. 
If the seedlings are large when received, 
they are often root-grafted at once, and then 
one summer in the nursery gives a tree suit- 
able for planting out. These stocks are of 
better budding size during their first summer 
than California seedlings, which are apt to 
overgrow. 

]\Iyrobalan plum seedlings were formerly 
imported to a large extent, but are now 
chiefly hoine-grown, and seedlings are used 
instead of cuttings, which formerly were em- 
ployed largely. This stock has secured great 
favor for pl'utns and prunes, and in some 
situations, for the apricot, as it is hardier 
against extreines of drouth and moisture. 

Prof. Newton B. Pierce, of Santa Ana, has 
discovered in California upon imported seed- 
lings a serious root-fungus which kills all 
kinds of orchard trees in Europe, and he 
advises the use of home-grown seedlings to 
escape this danger. 

Fruit Trees from Cuttings. — It is feasi- 
ble to grow a number of kinds of fruit trees 
from cuttings, but it is not desirable in many 
cases to do it. Trees grown from a graft or 
bud in a seedling root are much better. The 
root system of a seedling is naturally stronger 
and more symmetrical. The roots from a 



cutting start out at the bottom and spread 
out horizontally and irregularly. This style 
of a root system is expressively named "duck- 
foot roots,'' and they do not give the tree 
a deep, strong hold on the soil. Trees can. 
however, be multiplied very fast from cut- 
tings. Notable instances of this are the 
Myrobalan plum and the Leconte pear. Cut- 
tings of deciduous trees should be taken from 
well-matured wood of the previous season's 
growth, and planted in rows and in well- 
prepared soil, as has already been described 
for the sowing of fruit tree seeds. The cut- 
tings should be taken before the sap begins 
running in the winter. A cutting about ten 
inches long, four-fifths of its length buried 
in the ground, will answer. Be sure that the 
ground is firmed well at the base of the 
cutting, but keep the surface loose. Small 
wood is better than large, though, of course, 
the extreme ends of twigs should be rejected 
usually. Cultivation of cuttings is the same 
as that of seedlings, and budding, when the 
cuttings are to be used as stocks, is also 
governed by the same rules. 

The orange and lemon can be grown froin 
cuttings, but the work is done during the 
summer while the ground is warm. Cut 
from wood one or two years old ; set in open 
ground with partial shade and give plenty 
of water (dry ground is death to their ten- 
der roots), but be sure that there is free es- 
cape for surplus water. Cuttings started in 
the warm weather and given partial shade 
and plenty of irrigation are very apt to 
succeed. This method of growing these fruits 
is not, however, in wide use or favor. 

The propagation of the grape, olive and 
fig from cuttings will be considered in the 
chapters on those fruits. 

Pl.\nting Out in Nursery. — For plant- 
ing out in nursery, the term "spring" is given 
as the proper time, but in California it inust 
be remembered that spring is not any definite 
division of the year. "Spring weather" comes 
from the first of February to the first of May, 
according to the latitude or elevation or ex- 
posure resulting frorii local topography. Cher- 
ries may be ripe in Vaca Valley before fruit 
trees put out leaves in Modoc County ; and 
between these extremes there are advents 
of spring in other places according to the 
situation. These facts are more fully set forth 
in the chapter on climate. Spring must be 



How to Grow Them 



63 



Nursery Irrig-ation 



detected in the behavior of vegetation and not 
by the calendar. When the tree buds swell 
and the leaves appear, spring has come for 
that locality. But whether one can plant 
his nursery then or not will depend upon 
the character of the soil and the condition 
of the rainfall for that season. This varies 
much from year to year. As a rule, how- 
ever, in most parts where fruit is grown at 
present in large quantities, the heavy cold 
rains will be over by the first of February, 
and then nursery operations can commence 
if the soil is in good condition. If not, the 
planter must wait until the soil is dry enough 
to work nicely. There will, of course, be 
heavy rains after the first of February ; but 
they will only necessitate cultivation to loosen 
the soil, if the nursery ground is well situated 
for drainage, and if it is not it should not 
be used for this purpose. 

Supposing the ground has been deeply 
plowed and thoroughly harrowed, as has been 
already described, the laying out of the 
ground is the next operation. Everything 
should be done with a view to the use of the 
horse in cultivation. The rows should be laid 
out as straight as possible. Some use a plow 
furrow ; some an arrangement like a corn- 
marker, with two cultivator teeth set four 
feet apart ; some stretch a line, to get the pits 
or root grafts as true to it as possible, and 
some trust to the furrow for straightness. 
No rule can be laid down for means to be 
employed ; the result must depend upon the eye 
and skill of the individual. Some people can 
hardly shoot a straight line with a gun. Each 
must do the best he can in this respect. 

There is difference in practice as to distance 
between the rows in nursery. The usual dis- 
tance is four feet, but others claim that it 
is better to make the rows six feet apart, 
especially where no irrigation is practised, 
as this gives the young trees more room, and 
if the ground is kept thoroughly cultivated, 
as it should be. it gives the roots a greater 
supply of moisture to draw upon. In grow- 
ing a small lot of trees, where there is plenty 
of land, it is, of course, desirable to give 
them every advantage in the way of facilities 
for growth, but on the other hand, an over- 
grown tree is not desirable. Thrift and 
strength must be sought rather than size. 

At the ends of the rows spaces of about 
twelve feet should be left as turning-ground 
for the horse when cultivating, and as a road- 



way. The length of nursery rows depends 
upon the taste of the grower. It is con- 
venient to have alleys wide enough for a horse 
and cart at intervals of one hundred to three 
hundred feet, but in small nurseries the head- 
lands would probably give all the acces.s 
required. 

The depth for planting seeds and pits must 
be regulated by the size of the seed and the 
character of the soil, as is always laid down 
by the authorities, and in this State another 
condition must be made, and that is the cli- 
mate or weather conditions prevailing in the 
locality. Where the rainfall is generally light 
and the soil loose, seed must be planted 
deeper than where good spring showers are 
to be expected. In fine soils seeds must be 
planted shallower than in coarse, even with 
the same rainfall. Judgment and experience 
must dictate in this matter, and if a man has- 
no experience, he is pretty apt to get it. 

During the spring months the cultivator 
must be used as often as may be required to 
keep the weeds from getting too high, or the 
soil from becoming too densely packed by 
heavy rains, but the ground should never be 
worked when too wet. It requires some 
watchfulness and promptitude to use the cul- 
tivator just at the right time. 

Nursery Irrig.\tion. — In parts of the 
State where the rainfall is adequate, cultiva- 
tion thorough, the soil sufficiently retentive, 
and atmospheric conditions favorable, the 
seedling will make its growth without irriga- 
tion, and many nurseries are on ground not 
provided at all with irrigation facilities. In 
other parts of the State irrigation is neces- 
sary. Water should be applied sparingly, 
and yet enough to keep the seedling in 
healthy growing condition. This is shown by 
the leaves, which should not drop or curl. 
Excessive irrigation should be guarded against, 
because a soft, excessive growth is very un- 
desirable. Water is a good thing, and in 
some cases a very necessary thing, but the 
use of it should be wisely regulated. At bud- 
ding it is necessary that the sap should be 
free and the bark slip easily. To foster this 
condition it is sometimes desirable to give a 
W'atering a few days before budding com- 
mences. Water should be applied by running 
it through shallow furrows between the rows, 
and the cultivator should follow as soon as. 
the ground is dry enough to work freely. 



Buddine and Graftiug" 



64 



California Fruits : 



CHAPTER IX. 

MODERN METHODS OF BUDDING AND GRAFTING. 



IF THE nursery ground has been well 
worked and the seed properly handled, the 
growth of the seedling will be strong and 
rapid. If an early start was had and other 
conditions favorable, some kinds will be 
ready for budding in June, and the pro- 
duction of what are called "June buds," as 
will be described presently. In ordinary prac- 
tise, however, budding will come later, and 
the budding season extends from July to 
October. The weight of the budding of de- 
ciduous trees is generally done in August 
anil September. 

BUDDING. 

The process of budding, as employed on all 
the common fruit trees, is very simple. It 
consists in lifting the bark and inserting a 
bud from another tree in such a way that 
the inner bark of the bud shall come in con- 
tact with the layer of growing wood in the 
stock, and then it will be cjuickly knit to it 
by the new cell-growth if the bark is closed 
around the inserted bud closely enough to 
l)revcnt the air from drying the two sur- 
faces at the point of contact. 

In the engraving, a is the cutting or "bud 
stick'' from the tree of the kind into which 
it is desired to transform the seedling. This 
cutting is usually made from the growth of 
the present season, which has well-formed 
buds at the axils of the leaves, although 
in some cases older dormant buds may 
be used as will appear in the discussions of the 
dififercnt fruits. If buds are desired to mature 
early, pinch off the ends of the growing shoots 
from which they are to be taken. Suckers 
and so-called "water sprouts" should not be 
used, but rather well-formed wood from the 
branches of the tree. It is requisite that the 
buds be taken from a vigorous, healthy tree 
of the variety desired. Bud sticks can be 
carried or sent considerable distances if packed 
in damp moss or other material to prevent 



drying, but care must be taken not to enclose 
too much water or decay will be promoted. 
Fresh shoots in tight tin boxes without wet 
packing are safer and carry very long dis- 
tances. Sealing the ends with grafting wax 
is also a good precaution against drying out. 

Budding knives can be bought at all seed 
stores and cutlery establishments. They have 
a thin, round-ended blade at one end of the 
handle, and at the other end the bone is 
thinned down, or a bone blade inserted. The 
former is for cutting and the latter for lift- 
ing the bark of the stock into which the 
bud is to be placed. Armed with a bud stick 
and such a knife, the "hudder" starts in upon 
a row of seedlings. Bending the seedling 
over a little and holding it between his left 
arm and his left leg, he reaches down for 
a smooth place on the bark as near the 
ground as convenient to work, and makes 
a horizontal cut, and from that a perpendic- 
ular cut downwards towards the roots, as 
shown at b, in the engraving, with the bark 
slightly lifted and ready for the insertion of 
the bud. Next he cuts from his bud stick a 
bud, as shown at c. This carries with it, on 
the back, a small portion of the wood of the 
bud stick as well as the bud and bark. It 
was once claimed that this wood should be 
carefully dug out, but in budding most kinds 
of trees it is not necessary; in fact it may be 
better to leave it in ; such at any rate is the 
general practise. The point of the bud is 
now inserted at the opening at the top of the 
slit in the bark of the stock and pushed 
down into place, as shown in figure d. To 
handle the bud the part of the leaf stem 
which is left on is of material assistance. 
Nothing remains now but to apply the liga- 
ture v>hich is to hold down the bark around 
the bud. 

There are various ways of tying in the bud. 
Any way will do which holds down the bark 
closely, but not too tightly. Different materi- 



How to Grow Tlieni 



65 



Budding- and Grafting 



als are also used, soft cotton twine, stocking 
yarn, strips of cotton cloth, candle wicking, 
etc. The last-named is perhaps the best 
material, on all accounts, although strips of 
cheap calico bear evenly upon the bark and 
do verv good work. The use of twine is 




1 A stick of bud 
wood. 



2 Cutting the bud. 



Speedy, but the strands bearing upon a nar- 
row surface, and not being elastic, they are 
apt to do injury by cutting into the bark 
unless carefully watched and loosened. The 
fiber from basswood bark was formerly 
largely used, but has given place to the other 
materials named, which are more handily ob- 
tained. The buds must be examined about a 
week or ten days after insertion, and the liga- 
ture loosened, for otherwise it will cut into 
the rapidly-growing stock. Soiuetimes trees 
are badly injured by neglect in this particular. 

In making June buds, where immediate 
growth of the bud is desired, some growers 
make a hard knot with the cord around the 
stock, above the bud, and then use the loose 
ends to tie the bud. When the binding 
around the bud is loosened, the hard knot 
remains on the stock, girdles it, and forces 
the sap into the bud. Thin wire, known to 
nurserymen as ''label wire," is also used for 
this purpose. 

In going through the nursery row, all 
seedlings which are large enough are budded 
at once. In going through the row again 
to look to the bands, if the bud is seen to be 
fresh looking, it is considered to have 
"taken." In stocks where the first bud has 



dried up, another is inserted lower down. 
Sometimes seedlings which were too small 
to hold a bud at the first working over are 
given a bud later in the season, or left for 
taking up for root grafting in the winter. 

In nursery practice the budder does not 
stop to tie his buds, but is followed in the 
row by another man, who carries the tying 
material, and does this part of the work. 

The common method of budding thus de- 
scribed is used on all common orchard fruits. 
Special styles of budding for special fruits 
will be described in the chapters treating of 
those fruits. 

Usually the budded trees are allowed to 
stand in the nursery row with no other treat- 
ment that year than the insertion and care 
of the bud, the latter remaining dormant 
until the next spring. Then, as soon as the 
sap begins to swell the buds on the stock, 
the top is cut oft' down to about two inches 
above the bud, and all growth is kept oft' ex- 
cept that of the inserted bud. \\'hen that 
has grown out about twelve inches, the stub 
is cut off to about three-quarters of an inch 
or less from the bud, and the wood is quickly 
grown over by the bark. As there are apt 
to be dormant buds on the stock below the 




3 Verlicle incision. 4 Transverse incision. 

inserted bud, the trees have to be examined 
from time to time, and all such suckers re- 
moved. This is the common practice with 
budded trees. Exceptions will be noticed 
presently in connection with definitions of 
different kinds of trees known to the trade. 



Buddino- and Graftinof 



66 



California Fruits : 



Spring Budding. — What has been said 
in reference to budding appHes to the use of 
dormant buds. It is also possible to work 
with what is called a "pushing bud." This 
process, as described by a distinguished 
French authority, consists of retarding the 
growth of the buds on the scions by burying 
them in the ground until the sap is starting 
well in the stock in the spring, and then 
putting them in, trimming off the top of the 
stock so as to force the bud into growth. 
In this way the grower of a rare variety may 
secure trees for planting out the following 
winter, or he may secure a stock of buds for 
fall budding, and thus multiply his stock of 
a desirable variety very rapidly. A modifi- 
cation of this method consists in taking buds 
in the spring when they have grown out even 
half an inch, and inserting them by the usual 
method of lifting the bark, when the sap is 
flowing well in the stock. Then cut off about 
half the stock, so as not to give the bud too 
much sap at first, and afterward, when it is 
seen to have taken well, the balance of the 
stock is cut off near the bud. This method 
gives a tree the first season and saves a year 
over dormant budding. Shade and pro- 
tection from drv wind are desirable. 




5 Inserting the bud. 



6 Inserted bud ready 
for tying. 



GRAFTING. 
The next process of propagation to be 
considered is that by grafting. Its success 
as with budding, consists in bringing the 
growing wood (inner bark or alburnum) of 
the scion into contact with the same layer 



of the stock. It can be applied to any part 
of the tree, from the topmost branch to the 
lowest root, as is the case when new trees 
are made from scions and root fragments. 
Thus grafting pertains both to the production 
of young trees for planting out and to the 




7 Waxed cloth ready 
for twisting. 



8 Waxed cloth tightly 
twisted. 



transformation of old trees bearing worthless 
fruit into producers of choice varieties. 

Grafting for the production of young trees 
is first in order. Instead of budding the seed- 
ling during the first summer of its growth, 
it may be allowed to complete its season's 
growth, and drop its leaves. When thus dor- 
mant the young trees are taken from the 
ground, the roots rinsed off with water if 
the ground is wet and sticky, or merely 
shaken free from clinging earth if in a dry 
time. Enough trees are dug at once to graft 
at a sitting. The grafting can be done at 
the work-bench in the tool-house or barn, and 
if one is pressed with other daylight work, 
it may be done by lamplight at the kitchen 
table, if the housewife can be conciliated for 
the inuss it will make. 

Care of Scions. — The scions should be 
previously selected, and whether taken from 
trees on the place or brought from near or 
distant sources away from the farm, should 
have been placed as soon as procured in 
moist earth on the north side of the house 
or other building, where they will keep cool 
and damp until one is ready to use them. 
At the East and in parts of this State where 
the ground is apt to freeze it is necessary 



How to Grow Them 



67 



Grafting' Wax 



to keep scions in the cellar with their butts 
covered with moist sand, but over most of 
the area of the State nothing more is needed 
than to put down in the earth at the base 
of a tree or on the north side of a building, 
with, perhaps, a box or barrel inverted over 
them to keep out mice and other intruders. 
Care must be taken not to let them dry up. 
If it is desirable for any reason to keep 
scions dormant long into the spring or sum- 
mer, of course storage in a cool cellar is 
better, for in the open ground the scions will 
burst into leaf after a warm spell of spring 
weather. 

In selecting wood for scions, as for bud 
sticks, never take water shoots or suckers 
that start from the body of the tree and 
push up through the older branches, but 
always give the preference to sound, fully- 
matured wood, at the ends of the lower or 
nearly horizontal branches. Careful experi- 
ments have shown that trees grown from 
such scions are more likely to take on a low, 
spreading habit than those from the central 




9 Bud staked and tied. 

or upper branches. The scions should be 
tied in bundles with a stout cord ; and a 
piece of a shingle, with the name of the 
variety written plainly and deeply thereon, 
should be tied in with each bundle. 

Grafting Wax. — In grafting, a good 
grafting wax is requisite. The ingredients 
are mixed in different proportions by dif- 
ferent growers. A few recipes which are 
known to give good results are as follows : 



Two lbs. mutton tallow; 2 lbs. beeswax; 4 lbs. 
resin. 

Two and one-fourth lbs. resin; 2 lbs. beeswax; 
3-4 of a lb. tallow. 

One lb. mutton tallow; 2 lbs. beeswax; 4 lbs. resin. 

Two lbs. resin; 2 lbs. beeswax; 1-4 lb. tallow, and 
a little linseed oil. 




Cleft Graft. 



Bark Graft. 



Two lbs. resin; i lb. beeswax, 21-2 lbs. linseed 
oil ; 4 tablespoonfuls turpentine. 

One lb. beeswax; 5 lbs. resin; I pint linseed oil; 
I oz. lampblack. 

One lb. beeswax; 5 lbs. resin; i pint linseed oil; i 
pint flour. 



All these mixtures are made with the aid 
of gentle heat, and during grafting the wax 
must be kept warm enough to applv easily 
with a small brush. To do this the wax dish 
may be kept on a hot brick, to be changed . 
for a fresh one as it cools, or, better still, 
is to heat the wax in an old fruit-can or 
something of that kind, inside another, which 
is partly full of warm water. A more capa- 
cious heater can be made by removing the 
top of a five-gallon oil can. and making a 
hole for draft on one side near the bottom. 
A slow fire can be kept going to heat the 
w-ax pot which is suspended from a rod 
across the top. A wire handle makes this 
outfit portable.. The wax should not be so 
hot as to run too easily, but just right to 
spread well. 



Cleft Grafting- 



68 



California Fruits : 



Grafting is greatly facilitated by the use 
of strips of waxed cloth or waxed paper, the 
latter being quite good enough for grafts, 
which are low enough to be protected by a 
ground covering; also for root grafts. This 
waxed paper is made by spreading a thin 
coat of wax, with a brush, upon tough, thin 
wrapping paper, cutting up the paper, when 
cold, with a sharp knife, on a board, into 
strips about an inch wide. Waxed cloth is 
made by dipping cheap cotton cloth into hot 
wax, pulling the pieces between the edges of 
two boards to take out as much wax as possi- 
ble, and when the cloth is cold, tearing it 
up into half-inch strips for small grafts or 
wider strips for larger drafts. When grafting 
is going on in-doors, these strips hanging 
near the stove are kept in good, soft con- 
dition for use. 

There are grafting preparations which do 
not require heating, but remain in a semi- 
fluid state, and then become very hard by 
contact with the air. The following is 
a popular French preparation : 

Melt one pound or resin oer a gentle fire. Add 
to it one ounce of beef tallow, and stir it well. Take 
it from tlie fire. l.?t it cool down a little, and then 




Wedge Graft. 



Saddle Graft. 



mix it with a tablespoonfnl of spirits of turpentine, 
and after that add about seven ounces of very strontj 
alcohol. The alcohol caols it down so rapidly that 
it W'iU be necessary to put it once more on the fire, 
stirring in constantly. Great care is necessary to 
avoid igniting the alcohol. 



This wa.x is easily prepared, and when 
well corked will keep for six months. It is 
put on the wounded part of the tree, very 
thin, and soon becomes as hard as stone. 
Thus it is valuable not only for grafting, but 
for covering the scars caused by removing 
limbs in pruning. When bench grafting is 
done by nurserymen, of course all appli- 




Whip Graff. 



Side Graft. 



ances are arranged for the speediest work, 
and wonderful results are attained by one 
man and a helper, even as many as three 
thousand root grafts of apple in ten hours. 
We are, however, merely discussing home 
practices. 

Cleft Grafting. — Where various-sized 
stocks are to be used, as will be the case 
with a bunch of home-grown seedlings, dif- 
ferent styles of grafting must be used. 
Where the stock is inuch larger than the 
scion, as is apt to be the case with California 
seedlings, the cleft graft will be sitnplest. 
Cut off the top smoothl}' above the root 
crown and then split the top of the stock, 
as shown in the engraving. Then prepare 
the scion by whittling it to wedge-shape at 
the lower end. Open the slit in the stock 
with a little wedge and insert the scion so 
that its inner bark matches with the inner 
bark of the stock, something as shown in 
the second figure. It does not matter whether 



How to Grow Them 



69 



Root Grafts 



the outside of the scion is flush with the 
outside of the stock or not ; the vital point 
is to get the growing layers, just inside the 
barks, in contact with each other, and, to 
be sure of this, it may be well to give the 
scion a slight diagonal pitch, for if the barks 
cross each other, this desirable contact is 
sure to be made. It is well to make the 
side of the wedge of the scion which goes 
nearer to the center of the stock a little 
thinner than the outside. 

A scion for a root graft is cut longer than 
for use in the top of the tree, for in plant- 
ing, the point of grafting is placed a little 
way under-ground. Such scions are usually 
cut with four or five buds. After the scion 
is in place, it only remains to wrap it closely 
with a piece of the waxed cloth or paper, in 
such a way that all the cut surfaces are cov- 
ered, extending the wrapper a little below 
the split in the root. Paint over the wrapper 
with warm wax put on with the brush, put 
a little on the top of the scion, and the graft 
is complete. 

Side Gr.\i?'Ting. — Another method which 
prevents splitting the stock is the side graft, 
shown in the accompanying figure. It con- 
sists in bending the stock to one side and cut- 
ting in diagonally with a thin-bladcd, sharp 
knife, a little more than half-way through 
the stock. Into this open cut insert the scion 
so that the inner barks touch ; then allowing 
the stock to straighten up, holds the scion 
firmly. Covering with a wax band drawn 
tight makes a good job, and such grafts make 
as good growth as the buds set the previous 
summer. This method can be used with 
stems or branches up to an inch in diameter, 
and is essentially the same, as will be men- 
tioned later, as a side graft for working over 
old trees. In this style of grafting, a stub 
of three inches or more may be left above 
the graft, and to this the graft can be tied 
to prevent blowing out if it makes a strong 
growth. Afterward the stub is cut back 
with a sloping cut and waxed or painted to 
prevent checking. 

Whip Grafting in the Stem. — Grafting 
above the root or in the stem of the stock 
when stock and scion are about the same size, 
is done by tongue or whip grafting. The 
accompanying sketch shows a whip graft 
in the stem of the stock. Grafts up to an 



inch in diameter can be made in this way, 
but it is generally used for smaller wood. 
Care must be taken to secure proper con- 
tacts of the iinier barks at least on one side 
of the stock. After pushing the parts 
together, a wax band holds them firmly in 
place, or the joint may be simply tied and 
painted over with wax. 

A Root Graft. — When the root stock 
and the scion are about the same size, the 
tongue graft is also used, as shown in the 
figure. In making this both the stock and 
scion are given a sloping cut of about the 
same length, and a secondary cut made in 
each. When the two are put together, the 
wood "tongues in," or interlocks as shown 
in the engraving. The object of this is to 
make more points of contact for the inner 
barks of root and scion, and at the same 
time to interlock the two more firmly. In 
putting the two together, if the stock is 
slightly larger than the scion, be sure to put 
the scion so that the inner bark contact is 
made, and this will bring the scion a little 
to one side of the center. Bind with the 
wax band, and paint with wax as in the case 
of the former graft. 

In large nursery practice expert grafters 
have come of late years to make this root 
graft without wax, merely tying in the graft. 
For amateur work at home it is much safer 
to use the wax. 

Grafting in the root, where the root is 
much larger than the scion, may be done 
without splitting the root by cutting or saw- 
ing out a triangular piece on the side of the 
root, cutting the scion to fit and trusting to a 
strong band to hold it in place. This graft 
is illustrated in the chapter on propagating 
the grape. It also works well with root 
grafting the walnut, and is used by some 
in ordinary top grafting on other trees. 

Planting out Root Grafts. — This root 
grafting can be done in the winter before 
it is time to plant out, and the grafts can be 
made a few at a time, as convenient. The 
grafts, then, as fast as prepared, should be 
bedded in moist sand in the cellar, and will 
make their contact firm, and even start to 
growing a little. In planting out in the 
nursery rows be sure the earth is firmed 
well around the root, otherwise many will 
be lost. Plant ten or twelve inches apart 



Nursery Pruning 



70 



California Fruits : 



in the rows. Keep the weeds down and the 
soil well cultivated and loose on the surface, 
and the first season's growth will give a tree 
fit for planting out in orchard in the coming 
winter. For irrigation the rules already 
given for the growth of seedlings for bud- 
ding will apply. 

PRUNING TREES IN NURSERY. 

As for other treatment of the trees (either 
from bud or root graft) in nursery during 
the first year, there is some difference of 
opinion and practise. If the young tree will 
be content to make a straight switch with 
good buds in the axils of the leaves, but 
no laterals thrown out, it will be in the best 
possible shape for planting in the orchard, 
and gives the planter a chance to make the 
head at whatever height suits him, and to 
secure uniformity through the orchard. All 
trees will not, however, be content with this 
growth, but will push out laterals all along the 
stem. Even in this case some let the whole 
growth go for the planter to treat as he 
thinks best. Another plan is to go over the 
nursery when the young stock is about two 
feet high and pinch back the laterals part 
way, but retaining the leaves nearest the 
stem to shade the stem. This pinching back 
is done from the ground up to a height of 
one to one and a half feet, and above that 
the growth is left to take its natural course, 
to be cut as desired when the head of the 
tree is formed. Pinching back develops buds 
near the stem and gives the planter a better 
chance to head the tree lower if he likes. 
Another practise which prevails to some ex- 
tent, is to pinch off the terminal bud when 
the young tree has reached a height of about 
two and a half or three feet in the nursery. 
This soon forces a growth of lateral branches, 
which are in turn pinched after they have 
grown out a couple of feet. The result is 
the formation of a head on a nursery tree 
the first year, and when such trees are planted 
in orchard they are merely cut back on 
tlie laterals, leaving the head as formed in 
the nursery. Such trees are difficult to handle 
in packing, and take much room in shipment. 
There may, however, be an advantage in such 
practice for the home grower if he is situated 
in parts of the State where the greatest sea- 
son's growth is attained. Orchard planters 
generally, however, prefer a June bud or 



a yearling of moderate growth, without later- 
als. 

CLASSES OF NURSERY STOCKS. 

The several classes of stock which are to 
be had from nurseries are as follows : 

Root Grafts. — These are seedling roots, or 
pieces of them on which scions of the desired 
variety have been grafted on the bench and 
the junction healed over in the cellar. No 
growth has yet started in the scion. If the 
tree planter wishes this kind of stock, he 
should plant it out in nursery row in the 
spring and remove the trees to orchard the 
following winter. 

June Buds. — For multiplying varieties 
very fast, buds are kept dormant in a cool 
place ; or, by pinching off the top shoots of 
the current year are forced to mature buds 
very early. These buds are put into seedling 
stocks as early in the season as possible. Af- 
ter budding, the top of the stock is girdled 
with knife or cord, or partly cut away, and 
growth is forced on the bud so as to give a 
small tree at the end of the first summer. 
This method of propagation is growing in 
popularity in this State, especially in the foot- 
hill districts where small trees are preferred 
for transplanting. 

Dormant Buds. — Trees are sold in dor- 
mant bud when they are lifted from the nur- 
sery and sent out before any growth has 
started on the inserted bud. The bud should 
be seen to be the color of healthy bark. Such 
trees should only be used when yearlings are 
not to be had and gain in time is very im- 
portant. Care must be constantly taken that 
growth starts from the right bud and that it 
be protected from breaking ofif by wind or 
animals. A considerable percentage of loss is 
usual and extra dormant buds should be 
planted in nursery row to fill vacancies. 

Yearling Trees. — These are trees which 
have made one season's growth from the bud 
or graft. Two-year-olds have made two sea- 
sons' growth, and so on. The proper way to 
count the life of a tree is from the starting 
of growth in the bud or graft, for this point 
is really the birth of the tree. 

WORKING OVER OLD TREES. 
Another operation which may be properly 
considered as a branch of propagation is the 



How to Grow Them 



71 



Buddinji Old Trees 



working over of old trees. There is much of 
this being done every year in this State. The 
old seedling fruits in the older settled parts 
of the State are being made to bear improved 
varieties ; trees of varieties illy adapted to pre- 
vailing conditions are changed into strong 
growing and productive sorts ; trees are 
changed from one fruit to another, when af- 
finity permits. This will be mentioned in the 
discussion of the .diiTerent fruits. Still another 
reason for working over is to secure more 
valuable and marketable varieties. Sometimes 
a mixed orchard is made to bear a straight 
line of one sort which is in demand, or when 
the grower finds he has too many trees of a 
single kind, which give him more fruit than 
he can conveniently handle when it all ripens 
at one time, he works in other varieties so as 
to get a succession of varieties adapted to his 
purpose, and thus secures a longer working 
season in which to dispose of them. This is 
especially the case in large orchards of apri- 
cots, peaches, and plums, when the grower 
depends upon drying his crop. Information 
concering the successive ripening of varieties 
can be gained from the special chapters on 
the different fruits. For all of these reasons. 
and others which need not be enumerated, 
the work of the propagator is continually go- 
ing on even in our large bearing orchards. 
As with young trees, so with old, transform- 
ing the character of the tree is done both by 
budding and grafting. 



Budding Old Tkees. — One way to prepare 
an old tree for budding is to cut back the 
branches severely during the latter part of 
the winter, which has the effect of forcing out 
new shoots around the head of the tree, and 
in these the buds of the desired variety are 
set in the summer, just as is done in budding 
nursery stock, except that the budding should 
be done rather earlier because the sap does 
not run as late. W'hen the shoots are budded, 
those being selected which are situated so as 
to give the best .symmetry to the new head, 
the shoots not budded are broken a foot or so 
from where they emerge from the old wood, 
and are allowed to hang until pruning-tinie. 
At the winter pruning the budded branches 
are topped off a little above the bud and when 
the new shoot starts it is often loosely tied 
to the stub of the old branch to prevent 
breaking out in the wind. When it gets 



strength, the stub is cut away smoothly to 
allow the wound to heal over. 

Another way is to insert the buds in the 
old bark at points where it is desirable to 
have the new branches start. This is some- 
times done by lifting the bark, as in ordinary 
budding, and slipping the bud under, some- 
times by what is called shield or plate bud- 
ding, which consists in removing a piece of 
the old bark entirely and putting in its place 
a piece of bark of the desired variety, having 
upon it a dormant bud. With plate budding 
it is necessary to be careful to have the in- 
serted bark just the size of the bared spot, 
and to wrap it more closely than when the 
hud is slipped under the bark of the stock. 
In all cases in budding old trees, care must be 
taken to get fully-matured buds, and it is well 
to take them from large shoots, which have a 
thicker and firmer bark than may be used in 
budding nursery stock. It is also desirable 
to be very sure that the buds are taken not 
only from a tree of the desired variety, but 
from a healthy, vigorous tree of that variety. 

In selecting buds, also, one must be sure 
that he gets leaf buds, and not fruit buds 
only. In taking buds from some kinds of 
bearing trees, of course, he may sometimes, 
to get well-ripened buds, be obliged to take 
both fruit and leaf buds together. This will 
work well if care is taken not to rub ofT the 
leaf bud. It is rather easier, however, to work 
with buds from young trees not yet in bearing 
if one can be sure that these trees are of the 
desired variety. 

Gr.'SiFTing Old Trees. — Old trees are also 
renewed by grafting. This is most generally 
done by the old process of "top grafting." 
The main stem or the larger branches are cut 
square off, and the scions, usually two, but 
four or more if in the trunk, are shaped and 
set into clefts in the stock as shown in the 
engraving. It is better to use limbs above 
the main fork, or head of the tree, than to 
graft in the trunk, if the old trees are of good 
size. The following description, which the 
writer borrows in part from some unknown 
source, will serve to guide novices in the mat- 
ter: 

Tlic outfit necessary for doing the work consists 
of a small, fine saw. a regular grafting knife, or a 
pocket-knife- with a long, straight, sharp blade, wax, 



Time for Graftiugf 



12 



California Fniits : 



light mallet, and a hard-wood narrow wedge. After 
selecting the limb to be grafted, saw it off — your own 
judgment will guide you as to best point, but before 
the saw gets quite through the limb, cut the bark on 
the under side of the limb to prevent the liability of 
peeling down. 

Next split the stub with knife and tnallet and in- 
sert the wedge in the center of the cleft to hold it 
open. It is usual to cut the scion with two buds, 
but sometimes better results are had by using scions 
with but a single bud. Whittle the scion wedge- 
shape, so that it fits nicely down into the cleft. To 
do this, hold it in the left hand with the bud at the 
ball of the thumb, then cut the side toward you; 
as will be natural, turn it over, and cut opposite side 
in the same way, making the wedge a very little 
thinner on the edge opposite the bud than the other. 
This will insure a firm pressure at the points where 
the bark of scion and stock meet. 

When set, the bud of the scion will be on line with 
the outer long portion of the graft. The point to be 
closely observed in adjustment is to have the inner 
or sap bark of the scion connected with the same of 
the stock. If a trifle too far in, or too far out, the 
work will be a failure. Some people set the graft 
a little out at the top and a little in at the bottom, 
so as to be sure of a connection at the crossing- 
point, but there will be firmer hold if there is a union 
the whole length. Our rule has been to have the 
wood of the scion come exactly parallel with the 
surface of the stock, and we seldom fail in getting 
firm adhesions and solid limbs, after years of growth. 

After the scions are set, and two should be put 
into one limb if large, carefully withdraw the wedge 
and apply the wax, so that every part of the wood 
and bark cut and split is well coated. In doing this 
use extreme care not to move the scions at all from 
their sittings. If the pinch of the stock is seen to 
be severe, a small wedge may beleft in the center to 
save the .scions from crushing. If there is a large 
cleft, it may be filled with damp clay before waxing 
over. 

Most grafting over of old trees is done by 
this method, using one or another of the wax 
preparations described upon a preceding page. 
If the ctit surface of the stock and the split 
is thoroughly waxed over as low as the bark 
is split, there is usually little trouble with the 
growth of the scion and the healing over of 
the stock. In the warmer valleys in the in- 
terior, the sun is often hot enough to melt 
the wax and cause it to run and bare the 
wood surfaces. This is prevented by dusting 
the wax thoroughly with brick-dtist well pow- 
dered ; but, by a little experiinenting with the 
recipes already given, one can secure a wax 
which will stand any heat likely to be en- 
countered. 

For grafting over trees by working upon 
the limbs, the neatest and surest work can 
be done by methods of grafting which do not 
require the splitting of the stock. There are 



various ways of doing this. One method is 
shown in the engraving on the ne.xt page, and 
consists in cutting the scion as shown, and in- 
serting it beneath the raised bark and then 
binding well with waxed bands, the prepara- 
tion of which has already been described. 

Another method is an application of what 
the French call oblique side grafting. It con- 
sists of making an oblique cut downward 
through the bark of the stock and for a dis- 
tance into the wood, using a chisel and mallet 
or even a strong knife. A saw and knife are 
also used for making this cut, as will be de- 
scribed in the chapter on the peach. A small 
form of side graft has already been shown 
earlier in this chapter. In it the scion is 
held in with a wax band. Some growers re- 
move the top of the stock with a sloping cut 
about half an inch above the scion, as shown 
in the engraving, and wrap the waxed band 
well around and over all the exposed surfaces. 
Others do not remove the whole of the limb 
until the scion has started well into growth, 
and then they cut down and pare the stock 
and cover with a band or with a wax that will 
not run in the sun. 

Several ingenious devices have been pat- 
ented by Californians tor securing uniformity 
in the incision in the stock and in shaping the 
scion, but it is so easy to succeed with ordi- 
nary tools that such inventions have never 
come into wide use. Machines for the bench 
grafting of vines have, however, been suc- 
cessfully employed to a certain extent but are 
not generally tised. 

TIMES FOR GRAFTING IN 
CALIFORNIA. 

There is nothing particularly new about the 
methods or means employed for grafting de- 
ciduous fruit trees in California, but the time 
at which the operation can be successfully 
done, and the condition of the scion, are dif- 
ferent froin those held to be necessary in 
other climates. It is not at all requisite that 
the scions should be carefully stored away to 
keep them in a dormant condition, nor that 
the grafter should haste to do his work in 
just such a state of sap-flow in the spring 
time. It was early discovered that grafting 
could be successfully done with growing 
scions, and that scions could be cut from one 
tree and set in another nearly at any time the 
grafter desired. Grafting is therefore possi- 



How to Grow Tliem 



7i 



Time for Grafting 



ble much later in the season than is pre- 
scribed elsewhere, and it is also possible to 
begin earlier. In one of the largest apple and 
pear orchards in the State it is common to 
graft in December. The absence of freezing 
weather saves the graft from injury. As our 
trees start their flow of sap early, and often 
when the ground is too wet for comfortable 
orchard work, it is the practice of many to 
get their grafting and pruning done before 
the heavy mid-winter rains begin. The prac- 
tice of most growers is, however, to conform 
somewhat nearly to traditional methods, to do 
most of the grafting in the spring months, 
and to use dormant scions, the growth of 
which is retarded by heeling them in on the 
north side of a building, or keeping them in 
sand in the cellar, as the grower chooses. Of 
course it should be understood that there are 
parts of the State where the winter condi- 
tions are more nearly like those at the East, 
and practice has to conform to them. 

As to whether it is better to remove the 
whole top of the tree and graft all the limbs 
in one year, there is some difference of opin- 
ion. The prevailing practice is to graft over 
part of the limbs one year and the balance 
the following year ; or else to leave part of the 



top to shade the bark and take part of the 
sap flow until the grafts start out well, and 
then cut it away. When a large amount of 
grafting is to be done, the limbs may be cut 
oft' during the weeks preceding grafting. In 
this case, the cut should be made a foot or 
two above the grafting point and a second 
cut be made at this point, when ready to put 
in the scions. 

Whenever old bark is exposed by cutting 
back for grafting, thorough protection against 
sunburn must be provided. The simplest way 
to do this is to cover the exposed bark with 
good whitewash. By using thirty pounds of 
lime, four pounds tallow, and five pounds of 
salt with enought water to make it flow well, 
a tenacious whitewash can be secured. 

What has been said thus far relates especially 
to the working over of old trees of common 
deciduous fruits. Though much the same 
method wall succeed with some of the semi- 
tropical fruits and with nut trees, the discus- 
sion of their propagation and grafting over 
W'ill be deferred to the chapters devoted to 
them, and this will also give opportunity to 
describe methods especially adapted to these 
fruits. 




Preparation for Planting 



74 



California Frnits 



CHAPTER X. 



PREPARATION FOR ORCHARD PLANTING. 



THE two essentials in preparing land for 
trees or vines are deep and thorough 
cultivation, and provision for drainage, unless 
the situation is naturally well drained. Drain- 
age will be considered in connection with ir- 
rigation in another chapter. In this place, 
however, by way of emphasis, it may be re- 
marked that high land is not necessarily well 
drained, although the general feature of the 
surface may be an incline, nor is low land 
necessarily wet, although the surface may be 
apparently level. For horticultural purposes 
the drainage of the land must be considered 
on the' hillside as well as in the valley, for 
reasons which will be more fully set forth in 
the chapter on drainage. 

The preparation of land for fruit planting 
should begin with grading. In irrigated or- 
chards this is essential for the equal distri- 
bution of water. Even where irrigation is 
not anticipated, it is of decided advantage to 
smooth down hummocks and fill sags which 
are likely to collect water in the rainy season. 
As has been shown in Chapter III, this can 
be done on most California soils without dan- 
ger of uncovering a sterile subsoil. Some 
intimation of the method of grading is given 
at the close of Chapter VII. In preparation 
for the irrigated orchard, and irrigation is now 
widely employed even in regions where form- 
erly rainfall was the sole reliance, it is im- 
portant that accurate grading should be done 
and the use of the surveyor's level and grade 
stakes will be found very desirable. All mov- 
ing of soil should precede the general plowing. 

For the planting of orchard or vineyard 
the land must be put in as good tilth as pos- 
sible, and extra expenditure to secure this 
will be amply repaid in the after-growth of 
the trees and vines. If practicable, it will be 
all the better to have the process of prepara- 
tion begin a year before the trees or vines are 
to be set. This is true either with newly- 
cleared land, as has been described, or with 
old grain or pasture land which is to be used 



leaving the surface rough during the winter, 
facilitates the access of air to the lower layers 
of the soil, and in a certain sense may be said 
to sweeten and enliven it. Following in the 
furrow with a sub-soil plow is very desirable, 
either at the first plowing or later. Such 
treatment of old grain land breaks up the old 
hard-pan,* which has probably been formed 
by years of shallow culture. The preparation 
should continue during the following sum- 
mer, and can often be made both thorough 
and profitable by the growth of a summer 
"hoed crop," the culture of which will kill 
out many weeds and secure good pulveriza- 
tion of the soil. If no summer crop is grown, 
the land should be kept in cultivation by plow- 
ing the weeds under as long as the surface 
soil retains moisture enough to start them. 
A special advantagee of such summer-fallow 
in regions where the rainfall is apt to be short 
is that, by prevention of evaporation, the trees 
or vines set the following winter will have a 
good part of the rainfall of two seasons to 
grow with, and the result will often be very 
noticeable. If there are supplies of manure avail- 
able, as is often found in old corrals on our 
grain or stock farms, it is better to gather 
and apply this the winter before the planting 
of the trees. If this work is not done, then it 
should be left until after the trees are planted, 
and then be spread upon the surface during 
the winter, and plowed in after it has been in 
part leached into the soil by the rains. Ap- 
plication should be made evenly all over the 
surface and not massed around the roots of 
the trees, unless it is to be applied as a mulch 
to the surface after the spring cultivation is 
over, as will be considered later. 

If it is thought desirable to plant the land 
immediately after breaking up, put in the 
plows as early in the fall as it is possible to 
do deep work, that is, to plow to a depth of 
ten or twelve inches, or more. Harrow 



How to Grow Tliem 



75 



Marking- with Plow 



thoroughly. If it is still early, cross-plow 
for fruit. Thorough and deep breaking up as 
soon as practicable to plow in the fall, and 
also deeply when the land pulverizes well, 
and follow in the furrow with the subsoil 
plow, working to a depth of fourteen inches 
or more. For this kind of work good teams 
are needed, and the plow should be sharp 
and bright. If the work is hard for the team, 
set the plow so as to take less land, but do 
not sacrifice the depth. Harrow again 
thoroughly, and the land is ready for the trees 
or vines. 

Ax'oiDiNG De.\d Furrows. — Unless dead 
furrows can be used to advantage for surface 
drainage in case of heavy rain-storms, it will 
be of decided convenience in laying off to 
have the field free from them. This can. of 
course, be secured by beginning the final 
plowing at a line in the center of the field, 
turning all furrows inwards. In this case, too, 
if a right-hand plow is used, the team will 
always turn on unplowed land, and thus avoid 
trampling upon and packing the loose soil. 
The slight ridge in the center of the field 
formed by the first two furrows can be easily 
leveled by a couple of back furrows, and 
when properly harrowed the field will be 
found smooth as a floor for staking out for 
planting. 

LAYING OUT FOR PLANTING IN 
SQUARES. 

It is very desirable, both for convenience in 
cultivation and for the beauty of the orchard, 
that the trees should stand in straight lines, 
and care shsuld be taken to attain that end. 
Most orchards and vineyards in this State 
are laid out in squares ; that is, the rows of 
trees or vines are all at right angles to. each 
other, as shown in the accompanying sketch. 
This is the simplest arrangement ; and by 
some of our largest planters is held to be the 
best. It is true that the trees are not equidis- 
tant from each other in all directions, and 
that, theoretically at least, there is a portion 
of the ground unused — supposing that the 
roots occupy a circle, as do the branches. 
Practically, however, it may be doubted 
whether the hungry roots of well-grown trees 
or vines leave any portion of the soil unvisi- 
ted. 



There are also forms of double squares and 
alternating squares available for planting at 
long distances, with growths between, which 
are ultimately to be cut out, or for vines be- 
tween fruit trees. Such mixed planting is, 
however, but little practiced in California. 

\'ARIOUS WAYS OF MARKING FOR 
SQUARES. 

;\Iarking With a Plow. — This method 
was used in laying off some large orchards in 
the Sacramento Valley. A common two- 
horse turning plow is rigged with a "mar- 




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Trees planted on the square system. 

ker" — a light wooden bar extending at right 
angles from the beam, the bar being as long 
as the desired distance between the rows of 
trees. On the end of this bar a crosspiecc is 
fastened perpendicularly, so that it scratches 
along on the surface of the ground. The line 
of the first furrow has to be designated bv a 



Markiusf with Wire 



76 



California Fruits 



flag stake, to which the ploxyman proceeds. 
When this is done, the team is turned and 
sent back along the next row, the location of 
which has been fixed by the marker, and so 
on for the length of the field, the marker be- 
ing turned each time to indicate the next fur- 
row. Following the same course the other 
Way of the field leaves the trees to be planted 
at the intersection of the furrows. 

Measure and Sight. — Another method 
which is quite commonly used and answers a 
good purpose in small plantings is the combi- 
nation of measure and sight. The sighting 



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The Triangular or alternate system. 

stakes are usually plasterers' laths pointed at 
one end and whitewashed to make them more 
visible to the eye. In the use of these it is 
necessary to measure the distances and locate 
the laths to mark the ends of the rows all 
around the field. Then locate a line of laths 
across the field each way through the center, 



these laths occupying places which the trees 
of these two central rows will fill. After 
these are in place, measurement can be dis- 
pensed with, and the job can be finished by 
sighting through. The man on the ends of 
the rows has three laths to sight by in each 
row, and the stake driver places the stakes 
as directed by the sighter. Good location can 
be done this way if a man has a good eye and 
patience enough. 

Marking Off With a Wire. — A measur- 
ing wire or chain is, perhaps, the best means 
for getting accurate location of trees or vines. 
It is used either for setting in squares or in 
other arrangement, as will be described pres- 
ently. Measuring wires are made of annealed 
steel wire about one-eighth of an inch in di- 
ameter. The length varies according to the 
wishes of the user. If it is desired to lay off 
the plantation in blocks of one acre, the wire 
should be two hundred and eight feet nine 
inches long, for that is approximately the 
length of one side of a square inclosing an 
acre of ground. But some use a wire as long 
as three hundred feet, when the acre measure 
is of no consequence ; and others, in smaller 
plantings, make the wire just the length of 
the piece they have in hand. At each end of 
the wire is fixed a strong iron ring about one 
and one-half inches in diameter, to be slipped 
over stakes ; some use a larger ring, say three 
inches in diameter, because it is easier to 
handle in pulling taut. Along this wire, 
patches of solder are placed exactly at the 
distances desired between the rows of trees 
or vines, and to these places pieces of red 
cloth are sometimes fastened so that the points 
may be easily seen. Another style of measur- 
ing wires is made of small wire cable about 
a quarter of an inch in diameter, made of 
several strands of small wire. It is more 
flexible and less likely to become kinked than 
the large wire, and can be easily marked off 
to represent the distances, at which rows of 
different kinds of trees should be placed, by 
separating the strands a little at the desired 
points and inserting a little piece of red cloth, 
pressing the wires together again and tying 
firmly with a waxed thread to prevent slip- 
ping. In this way the same wire can be easily 
arranged for planting vines or for the trees 
requiring the greatest distance between, the 
rows. Another advantage of the cable is that 
any stretching can he taken up by retwisting. 



How to Grow Them 



77 



Finding^ a True Corner 



which can not be done with the stretching of 
a single wire. Another good style of planting 
wire is made of 2, 4 or 6 foot links of No. 12 
steel wire (including the diameters of the 
small rings turned at each end of the link 
pieces). As all planting will probably be at 
multiple distances of these link-lengths, the 
cloth tags can be changed and the chain thus 
be marked for any desired distances. 

Finding a True Corner. — To use the 
measuring wire for laying out trees on the 
square, it is necessary first to get one corner 
true, and then a field of any size can be 
marked out accurately. Select the side of the 
field which is to serve as the base of the 
square and stretch the wire along that, say 
fifteen feet from the fence, which will give 
room enough to turn with the team in culti- 
vation or to drive along in picking-time. 
When the wire is thus stretched parallel with 
the boundary of the field, place a stake at 
each of the distance tags on the wire, and 
these stakes will represent the first row of 
trees or vines. To find a square corner, begin 
at the starting point and measure oflf sixty 
feet along this row with a tape line, and put 
a temporary stake, then from the starting- 
point measure ofT eighty feet as nearly at 
a right angle with the first line as can be 
judged with the eye, and run diagonally from 
this point the temporary sixty-foot stake. If 
the distance between these stakes is one hun- 
dred feet, then the corner is a right angle. 
Now, having the outside lines started at right 
angles to each other, one can proceed with the 
measuring wire and lay of? as large an area 
as he desires, if care is taken to have each 
line drawn parallel with the last, and all 
stakes accurately placed with the tags on the 
wire — providing the land is nearly level or on 
a uniform grade. In locating trees over un- 
even ground, the measurements will have to 
be made from tree to tree, with the tape line 
held as nearly to a level as possible. 

Rows ON HiLLLSiDEs. — Laying of? orchard 
or vineyard on hillside too steep to plow both 
ways, there is advantage sometimes in placing 
the rows up and down the hill nearly twice 
as far apart as the rows along the face of 
the hill. In planting trees thus the advantage 
to be gained is by enabling you to keep the 
team well up the hill; thereby you are able to 



plow or cultivate the trees close on the lower 
side of the rows. There is no difficulty in 
cultivating the upper side of the rows, for the 
plow or harrow is always below the team. 
If trees are planted as recommended, the 
team can be guided up the hill a little be- 
tween the rows, then allowed to drop down 
hill one step, and thus one can cultivate the 
trees close on the lower side. The same rule 
will apply to vines. 

QUINCUNX PLANTING. 

There is much confusion in the use of this 
term in this State. It is, in fact, made to 



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The Quincunx system. 

cover almost every kind of arrangement 
which is not on the square. Webster defines 
the term to mean "the arrangement of things, 
especially of trees, by fives in a square, one 
being placed in the middle of a square." 
Trees set in q-iincMTi; would stand as shown 



Equilateral Triangles 



78 



California Fruits : 



in the accompanying diagram. To locate 
them in this form it is only necessary to pro- 
ceed as already described for planting in 
squares, by fixing upon the base line and lo- 
cating two side lines to it at right angles. Place 
the stakes on these two lines just half the dis- 



O 

o o o 
o 



tance desired between the trees, and have the 
measuring wire long enough to reach across 
from one line to the other. Near one end of 
the wire place another mark just half way 
between the end and the first tree mark ; that 
is, if the trees are to be twenty-four feet 
apart in the squares, this additional mark 
should be twelve feet from the end of the 
wire. Now set the first row with the end 
of the wire at the corner stake, and set stakes 
at each twenty-four foot mark. 

Proceed now to the first half-way stake, 
and instead of putting the end of the wire at 
this stake, put the twelve-foot mark there. 
Put stakes now at each twenty-four-foot 
mark again to locate the trees in that row. 
In the next row put the end of the wire at 
the first stake and proceed as in the first 
row. Thereafter using the end of the wire 
and the twelve-foot marks alternately, the 
stakes will be set in quincunx all over the 
field. If the midway stakes are now pulled 
out along the two side lines, the remaining 
stakes show where the trees are to be placed. 
This way of planting locates about seventy- 
eight per cent more trees upon any given 
area, but it brings the trees at irregular dis- 
tances from each other, and except in fur- 
nishing a way to arrange an orchard with 
permanent and temporary trees, there does 
not seem to be any advantage in it. 

PLANTING IN EQUILATERAL TRIAN- 
GLES. 

This is the arrangement generally implied 
when the term "quincunx" is wrongly em- 
ployed. By it the trees are all equally dis- 



tant from each other, and thus the ground as 
equally divided as possible. The arrangement 
admits fifteen per cent more trees to the acre 
than the setting in squares, and the ground 
can be worked in three different directions. 
This arrangement also gives better facilities 
for irrigation. Objections are urged to it, 
however, in that it does not admit of thinning 
trees by removal of alternate rows, as is some- 
times desirable, and that one has to take a 
zigzag course in driving through the orchard 

Plexagonal planting places the trees as 
shown in the accompanying sketch. 

It is termed hexagonal because, as the fisr- 



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The Hexagonal or Septuple system. 

ure consists of six trees inclosing a seventh, 
a line drawn through the encompassing trees 
makes a hexagon. It is also called septuple 
planting, because seven trees enter into its 
figure. 

An orchard can be laid out in hexagonals 
by using the ineasuring wire as described for 



How to Grow Them 



79 



Laying out Hexagonals 



quincunx planting with the distance and half- 
distance marks, except that the guide stakes 
in the side rows must be placed at different 
distances apart. The following table, show- 
ing the distance for side stakes to reach de- 
sired distance between the trees, and the 
method of calculating the number of trees 
to the acre by the square and hexagonal or 
sextuple arrangement : 



For any distance not given in the above table, 
calculate the number of trees to the acre by the 
square system, and add fifteen per cent. This will 
give the number if planted septuple. 



L.WING OUT Hex.\GONALS WITH A TRIAN- 
GLE. — It is possible to lay out an orchard in 
hexagonal form by working from stake to 
stake with an equilateral triangle of dimen- 








The Square and Equilateral methods. 



Trees set Sextuple Check-stakes should be 

10 feet apart 8 feet 8 inches. 



12 
14 
16 
18 
20 
21 
22 
24 



10 


'■ 41 


12 


' "s 


13 


' 1013 


15 ," 7 
17 " 4 


18 


' 212 


19 


\ 


20 


' 912 



After the field is staked, each alternate stake in 
the check rows should be removed. The following 
table will show the number of trees to the acre by 
the square and septuple system; 



10 feet apart 435 

12 
14 
16 
18 
20 
21 
22 
24 



riuare 

435.... 
302 


Septuple. 

500 

347 


222 


255 


170 


195 


134 


154 


109 


125 


99 


114 


90 


103 


75 


86 



sions equaling the distance required between 
the trees. 

Take three strips of one-by-two-inch dry pine or 
redwood, and as long as you wish the distance be- 
tween the trees. Cut the strips the same length, 
and fasten the corners of the triangle firmly together 
by nailing to pieces of pine board six by six inches. 

If the long strips are set up edgewise, the triangle 
will be much stiffer and better to carry. Through 
the corner boards bore an inch hole, making sure 
that the three sides of the triangle measure exactly 
the same. If they do, the triangle must necessarily 
be perfect. Then brace it a little by nailing a lath 
across each corner, and it is ready for use. 

Now split out some three-quarter-inch pins, one 
foot long, from good, straight-grained redwood. 
Make one hundred pins for each acre yon have to 
lay off. 

Three persons must now carry the triangle, be- 
ginning on one side of the field, say eight feet from 
the fence, and guided the first time through by a line 
of stakes. Carry the triangle with its side to the 
line of guide stakes and its point in. The head man 
and the inside man will stick pins, while the rear 
man will slip his corner each time upon the pin set 
by the head man. 

.•\ftcr the first time across, the man at the inside 
point of the triangle alone will set pins, while the 
other two fit their corners upon the pins in the last 
row set. Thus one row of pins only is set each time 
you go across the fiebl 



IvOcatino' in Triano'les with chain 



SO 



California Fruits : 



If the triangle is exact, and the first row of pins 
is set perfectly straight, and the pins are always set 
perpendicularly, everything will now work like a 
charm and the job will be perfect; and it is so simple 
and easy that a man and two small boys can lay off 
from five to ten acres in one day. Remember that 
no guide stakes are used anywhere after the first 
time through. 




One corner of triangle — all being made alike. 

The Tri.wgle on Hillside. — The use of 
the triangle requires a Httle nicety in "level- 
ing up" where the piece is hilly. By using a 
plumb-line at two corners of the triangle, the 
third corner resting on one of the stakes, 
leveling the triangle and bringing one of the 
plumb-lines over another stake already set, 
the position of the other line would deter- 
mine the position of the next stake. This 



method has worked fairly well, even in places 
where the slope was sufficient to give a fall 
of six feet between the trees, which were set 
twenty feet apart. 

Locating in Trl\ngles with ,\ Ch.\in. — 
Instead of a wooden triangle, a chain has 
been used in this way : 

First stretch a chain along one side of the ground, 
setting by it the first row of stakes. This forms the 
base line. Have a piece of chain just twice the 
length of the established distance between trees, with 
ainple rings on the ends and a joint in the middle. 
Put one of the rings over the first stake and the other 
over the second stake. Then take the joint in the 
middle of the chain and stretch it out reasonably 
tight. The wire forms a letter V, at the focus of 
which stick a stake. The point is indicated with 
precision by the joint in the middle of the chain. 
Then fake the ring off the first stake and put it over 
the third stake, leaving the one on the second stake 
where it is. Tighten the chain again, and another 
point is fixed. Thus continue all the base line, shift- 
ing the rings alternately, turning over the chain as 
one turns a pair of draughtman's compasses in his 
hand when spacing ofi a line. The second row of 
Stakes being set, set the third row, and so on through 
the ground. 

The suggestions given in this chapter 
should indicate ways enough to lay off or- 
chard and vineyard ground to answer all 
needsi though there are other good ways not 
mentioned. It is hoped that the instructions 
will not be regarded as too explicit. They 
are intended for the guidance of the inexperi- 
enced planter, and will naturally seem laden 
with detail ^p those who have become famil- 
far with the operations by repeated practice. 




How to Grow Tliem 



81 



Planting: the Trees 



CHAPTER XI. 



PLANTING THE TREES IN ORCHARDS. 



AFTER the field has been graded, thorough- 
ly tilled and carefully laid off as has been 
described, the next step is digging the 
holes for the trees. "How large shall the holes 
be?" He was a wise fruit grower who, 
when asked this question, replied, "As large 
as the field." That is to say, it is much better 
to work the whole ground over deeply than 
to trust to deep holes and shallow working 
elsewhere. Where this is done, the tree 
holes need only be large enough and deep 
enough to receive the roots without folding 
them in or cramping them up. In a loose, 
deep soil, however, one can dig extra deep 
and broad holes if he desires, and will be 
repaid by extra growth of the tree ; but in 
a close, tenacious soil a deep hole is not only 
undesirable, bitt often positively a danger 
to the tree, unless drainage of the holes is 
provided artificially. Such holes hold water 
like a tub, and the loosening of the soil 
deeply facilitates its gathering in the hole. 
Many have found their trees in such places 
dwindling and dying because their roots 
were soaking in water. 

Planting on Some Sh.\li,ow Soir.s. — As 
a rule, trees should have a deep soil, and 
for these deep, free loams, California is 
famous, but there are situations where very 
satisfactory growth and production can be 
had, even when the hard-pan is near the sur- 
face and the soil would be called shallow. 
In such places it is the character of the sub- 
soil which warrants the tree and vine planter 
in making use of them. Sometimes the hard- 
pan is so thin and near the surface that it can 
be broken through with a pick in digging the 
tree hole. Otherwise boring is done. It 
is about forty years since Mr. James Rutter, 
of Florin ( on the "bed rock" lands near 
Sacramento), first noticed that there were 
vines here and there which grew exceptionally 
well and bore large crops of fine fruit. He 
found bv investigation that under these vines 



there were crevices in the bed-rock, and from 
this he took the hint to bore through this 
hard-pan in the bottom of the hole where 
he placed the tree, and in this way he gained 
access for the roots to the subsoil and egress 
for the water through the permeable sub- 
stratum. He bored a hole two inches in di- 
ameter into or through the bed-rock and ram- 
med well into it one and a half pounds of black 
blasting powder. xAfter exploding this, he some- 
times bored a three-inch hole about four feet 
below the blast. Instead of blasting in the 
hole where the tree is to be planted, some 
bore and blast the hard-pan midw^ay betw-een 
the rows, placing the holes at "quincunx" 
with the trees. The shattering of the hard- 
pan between the trees is said to be practicable 
after the trees are growing, and may in 
certain soils relieve trees which are suffer- 
ing for lack of drainage. A half-pound 
cartridge of dynamite has been successfully 
used for subsoil blasting, and some have 
reported in favor of exploding a quarter- 
pound cartridge quite near to a tree suffer- 
ing from standing water, putting in the 
charge during the dry season. 

There are many situations where such prac- 
tice would be beneficial, and in some cases 
mere digging or boring through the impervi- 
ous stratum avails much. There are spots 
where "lava crusts" overlie gravel, and trees 
have been well grown by cutting holes 
through the lava to the gravel, filling with 
good soil and planting the trees in these 
holes. Their roots penetrate to the gravel 
stratum and obtain abundant moisture and 
nutriment. In certain situations where a 
shallow layer of soil overlies a heavy clay, 
trees have been blown over, but when a 
cut has been made through the clay, the 
trees have rooted deeply and have withstood 
the winds. 

Shooting Holes for Trees. — Even where 
there are continuous depths of dense strata, 



Tree Setters 



82 



California Fruits : 



ami not shallow hard-pan underlaid by free 
soils, trees can often be successfully grown 
by the use of high explosives. In his book 
on ''Soils" Professor Hilgard gives these 
suggestions : 

A permanent loosening of dense sub-strata is best 
accomplished by moderate charges {1/2 to }i lb.) of 
No. 2 dynamite at a sufficient depth (3 to 5 ft). The 
shattering effect of the explosure will be sensible 
to a depth of eight feet or more, and will fissure the 
clay or hard pan to a corresponding e.xtent side- 
wise. If properly proportioned the charge will hardly 
disturb the surface; but if this be desired, from I'A 
to 2^ pounds of black powder placed above the 
dynamite will throw out sufficient earth to plant 
the tree without farther digging. Where labor is 
high-priced this proves the cheapest as well as the 
best way to prepare such ground for tree planting, 
and it has often been found that in course of time 
the loosening begun by the powder has extended 
through the mass of the land so as to permit the 
roots to utilize it fully and even to permit, in after 
years, of the planting of field crops where formerly 
they would not succeed. 

The boring for such blasting is usually 
with an ordinary carpenter's auger, a little 



top soil to place in direct contact with the 
roots when the tree is planted, the lower soil 
being used to fill up the hole with. 

TREE SETTERS. 
No matter how carefully the stakes are 
placed in laying off the orchard, the trees 
will not easily come in line unless some 
handy device is used for bringing the stem 
just in the place occupied by the stake which 
was thrown out in digging. These devices 
are called "tree-setters," and there are a 
number of designs. Two are given, either 
of which will give good results. Take a 
piece of board one inch thick, four inches 
wide, and five feet long; bore an inch hole 
in the center, and one at each end at equal 
distance from the center ; then cut a piece 
from one side of the board, marked by a 
square, the corner resting in the middle of 
the center hole. Make two stakes, each one 
foot long, that will easily pass through the 
end holes. Place the center of this board 



y\. 



Bar for tree setting. 



larger than the diameter of the cartridge to 
be used ; the shank of the auger being 
lengthened by the blacksmith to reach the 
depth desired. 

It is becoming more and more apparent, 
however, than for commercial plantings of 
trees and vines all such defective soils should 
be avoided. There is plenty of good, deep 
land to be had, and the burden of ameliorat- 
ing poor land is a serious handicap in the 
coinpetition which has brought production to 
very narrow margins of profit. 

Digging the Holes. — Holes for tree plant- 
ing may be dug at a leisure time after the 
laying off of the field, even though it is not 
designed to plant the trees itnmediately, but 
our largest planters do not approve the 
practice. In such cases the sides of the holes 
should always be freshly pared off before 
the trees are put in, because the rain and 
sunshine are apt to cement the sides. In 
digging holes the surface earth should always 
be thrown on one side and the lower soil on 
another. The object of <-his is to have the 



against the stake, where the tree is to be 
planted; push the stakes into the ground 
through the holes in the ends, then lift the 
board from position and proceed to dig the 
hole. When dug, replace the board over 
the end stakes in its former position, then 
plant the tree with its trunk resting against 
the center notch in the board, and you have 
it in just the right place. 

Another setter is in the form of a triangle : 
Take three pieces of plain one-inch stuff 
three to four inches wide and four feet long, 
and nail them together, forming a three- 
cornered frame, letting the ends project suf- 
ficiently to form a corner, as shown in the 
drawing. Next make a couple of smooth, 
hard stakes, well sharpened, and about a 
foot or sixteen inches in length. When you 
are ready to set your trees, place the frame 
flat upon the ground with one corner firmly 
and fairly against the stake which marks the 
place where the tree is to stand. Now in 
the other two corners stick the stakes already 
prepared for the purpose. This done pull up the 
stake against which the frame was first placed 



How to Grow Them 



83 



Selecting Trees 



— the one indicating a place for a tree — re- 
move the frame, being careful in doing so 
not to move the other two stakes, which 
must be left to be used while setting the tree. 
After the hole is dug and everything ready 
for setting the tree, again place the frame 
against the two standing stakes, let the tree 
drop into the other corner, which will help 
support it while the dirt is being placed about 
the roots ; and this will bring the tree exactly 
where the stake was originally. If the stakes 
are properly put in line, so will be the trees. 
These setters are described as they are 
used when the hole is dug and the tree set 
at the same time. Such is the ordinary prac- 
tice in planting. If one wishes to dig the 
holes beforehand, it is necessary to furnish 
more stakes, as two have to be left beside 
each hole to mark the position of the setter 




Triangular tree setter. 



when the planting is done. Besides its use 
in bringing a tree into line, the tree-setter 
enables one to judge of the depth of setting 
as compared with the surface of the sur- 
rounding ground. It is not easy to determine 
this with the eye if the hole be a large one. 
Where the measuring wire is used to set 
the stakes, it is sometimes stretched across 
again after the holes are dug, the tags on 
the wire thus indicating the places for the 
trees of the whole row. The trouble with 
this practice is the bother of having the wire 
in the way while filling and tramping the 
earth around the roots. 

SELECTING TREES. 
In the purchase of trees it is well to 
patronize nurserymen in your own district, 
providing they are honest and intelligent 



men, who keep themselves informed as they 
should about their business. The advice of 
such a local nurseryman is often of great 
value to the newcomer, for he will know 
by his experience and observation much about 
the adaptations of fruits and varieties thereof 
to the region. If, for any reason, local 
nurseries do not meet your needs, seek some 
well-established- nursery at a distance. It is 
much safer to deal directly with the grower 
of the trees than to patronize traveling 
agents. Where, however, these agents are 
the accredited representatives of well-known 
establishments, they may save the planter 
time and trouble by taking his order for him. 
So-called "tree peddlers," who are jobbers 
in trees and in too many cases send you 
refuse trees which they pick up cheap wher- 
ever they can, and label them to suit, without 
respect to truth or honesty, should be reso- 
lutely avoided, no matter what inducements 
or blandishments they may offer. 

The California legislature of 1907, passed 
a law making it unlawful to sell fruit trees 
representing them to be a certain kind and 
afterwards to deliver trees of a different 
kind. To do this is a misdemeanor punish- 
able by fine and imprisonment. Action may 
be begun at any time within seven years after 
the date of delivery of such trees.* 

It is desirable, if possible, to visit the 
nursery and see the stock which is to be 
furnished. The trees should have a good 
healthv look, with clean bark, and of size 
enough to indicate a good, free growth. 
The matter of size is not the only point to 
consider, for size of the top is not so de- 
sirable as well-matured wood and plenty of 
roots. On the other hand, stunted trees are 
not, as a rule, worth planting, for a stunted 
tree, like a stunted calf, often does not make 
a good after-growth. There are cases, how- 
ever, in which, by extra cultivation in good 
soil, fine trees have been grown even from 
"culls" from the nursery. The best rule is 
to select trees of good medium size, straight 
and healthy. In judging size, however, one 
must take California and not Eastern stand- 
ards, because our nursery stock, if well 
grown, invariably is of much greater size 
than Eastern. If the visit is during the dig- 
ging season, ask to see samples of the roots 



' statutes and am---ndment.s to the Codes, 19D7 : Ctiap 229, 



Heelingr in 



84 



California Fruits 



as well as the tops and do not purchase 
trees unless the roots are healthy looking 
and free from knots or excresences. Gnarly 
and knotty roots in the young tree are a 
sure sign of insect pests or of unhealthy 
growth, and planting such trees has oc- 
casioned our orchardists immense loss. Many 
have been led into purchasing poor trees 
because they may be had cheap. A tree 
selected merely because it is cheap may 
prove the most expensive thing a man can 
put in the ground. 

Gu.-\RDING AGAINST InSECTS. — The top of 

the tree should be carefully examined to 
discover scale insects if there be any. For 
this purpose a hand-magnifier should be 
used. Such a glass should always be in the 
fruit grower's pocket. One can be bought 
at any optician's for a dollar or two, which 
will fold into its case so as to be carried 
without scratching. Our nurserymen, by 
forsaking old infested locations and obtain- 
ing new ground, now sell much cleaner 
trees than they did years ago. But still it 
is well to be always on the watch for pests. 
Disinfection of nursery stock is now of- 
ficially provided. Details of treatment will 
be given in the chapter on injurious insects. 

TAKING TREES FROM THE NURSERY 

Trees should be carefully taken from the 
nursery rows so as to obtain a good amount 
of small branching roots. In lifting from 
the home nursery, digging with well-sharp- 
ened spades, which will sever the long roots 
cleanly, is perhaps the best method. In 
the large nurseries tree-diggers are generally 
used. They have two revolving coulters, 
which cut through the surface soil each 
side of the trees, and a sharp, curved blade, 
which is drawn through the ground under 
the trees, loosening the soil and severing the 
long roots cleanly. The tree is then easily 
lifted, and has generally a much better root 
system than by the old style of "ploughing 
out," which broke off so many of the small 
roots and lacerated the larger ones. Whether 
the taproot should be retained or not is not 
worth discussing on theoretical grounds. As 
a matter of fact and practice, the taproot 
cuts no figure at all in California orchard 
planting, although the discussion of the 
question was formerly very warm m this 



State, and is still occasionally heard It is 
important, however, that the planter should 
have as many small lateral roots as he c.in 
get. The small fibrous roots are usually 
of little account, as they seldom survive 
transplanting, and it is better to clip them 
away, if the time can be afforded, as the}' 
often prevent the proper close contact of 
the soil with the larger roots. Cutting back 
all roots to short stubs at the base of the 
stem has succeeded in some instances in Cali- 
fornia on moist low lands, but longer roots 
are far safer in the deep drying of the sur- 
face layer which is to be expected in this 
State. 

The roots, after lifting, should not be 
permitted to dry. Hence, in hauling from 
the nursery to the farm, the trees should 
be well covered with wet straw and old sacks, 
or, if shipped from the nursery to distant 
points, should be well packed. The best way 
to pack trees is, undoubtedly, to box them 
in with wet straw, but it costs less and they 
usually carry well considerable distances if 
carefully bundled with tules (dry reed stems), 
the roots packed in wet straw, and the pack- 
ing and covering bound down tight with 
ropes to prevent drying out. 

Attention should be paid to hauling away 
trees from the railway stations as soon as 
possible after arrival. It is not uncommon 
for shipments to lie on the station platforms 
for days, often when a desiccating north 
wind is blowing. Such treatment soon takes 
the life out of the rootlets, and often, no 
doubt, the nurseryman is blamed for failure 
of trees which have suffered some such ne- 
glect as this, either from transportation com- 
panies or from the purchasers. 

Heeling In. — On arrival at the farms, 
trees should be "heeled in'' as soon as pos- 
sible ; even if it is the intention to plant at 
once, heel them in just the same, for delays 
arise often in the most unexpected manner. 
To heel in, dig a trench or plow a deep fur- 
row, or a double furrow, in light, moist, but 
well-drained soil ; put in the trees singly 
side by side, removing all the packing mate- 
rial carefully from the roots, laying the tops 
all one way, and then shovel the earth over 
the roots until they are well covered with 
loose soil, and be sure that the soil sifts 
down well between the roots. Ordinarily 
this treatment will hold the trees in good 



How to Grow Them 



85 



Time to Plant 



condition for a considerable time if need 
be. If, however, they have become dry before 
arrival, the bundles should be thoroughly 
drenched with water before heeling in. In 
extreme cases, where the top shows drying 
by shrinking and shriveling of the bark, the 
trees should be drenched, and then they 
should be covered root and top with earth 
for two or three days, when, if the trouble 
has not gone too far, the bark will recover 
its smoothness and plumpness. It should be 
very seldom, however, that a lot of trees 
is allowed to get into such condition by ne- 
glect. In heeling in it will be found a 
great convenience and a safeguard against 
possible confusion by loss of labels, if each 
variety as taken from the packing is placed 
by itself in the trench. Nurserymen generally 
attach a label to each small bundle, if the 
trees are of several varieties, and the novice 
is apt to lose all track of his sorts when heel- 
ing in the trench, unless he heels in each 
kind by itself, leaving the nurseryman's label 
to mark the whole lot of each kind. 

If the planter has his own ideas of after- 
treatment of his trees, or if he is a beginner 
and desires to adopt the suggestions which 
will be laid down in this book, he should 
insist that the nurseryman shall not trim up 
nor cut back the trees before packing. Have 
the trees packed just as they are lifted from 
the ground. The work toward the shaping 
of the tree should be done after it is planted 
in the orchard. 

PLANTING THE ORCHARD. 

The young deciduous tree should be dor- 
mant before being moved from the nursery 
row, and if its leaves have fallen it is good 
evidence of its dormancy. Such, however, 
is the effect of the climate of California, 
more apparent in some years than others, 
and ".'ith Srome kinds of fruit than others, 
tliat the young tree retains a small part of 
its activity very late, and in such cases it 
is not practicable to vvait for the complete 
falling of the leaves. Sometimes for conve- 
nience of work, the trees have to be lifted 
before this takes place, and in such case it 
is desirable to remove the leaves to lessen 
evaporation. It is probably better to trans- 
plant in this condition for the sake of early 
setting in its new position than to wait for 
all the leaves to drop. This statement is 



not intended to include nursery stock which 
is kept growing late in the season by late 
irrigation. Such trees are not always desir- 
able. 

Time to Plant. — The best time to plant 
deciduous trees in California is soon after 
the early rains have deeply moistened the 
ground. . It is not desirable however to have 
a stratum of dry earth below. This can be 
removed by irrigation when available. Early 
planting of common orchard fruits is of 
advantage for several reasons. First, an 
early-planted tree gets the full benefit of 
the season's rainfall, whatever it may be, 
and a late-planted tree, in a year with short 
rainfall, is apt to suffer during its first sea- 
son's growth, unless it can be irrigated. The 
two main things to observe are the dormancy 
of the tree and the proper condition of the 
soil, and both of these are most apt to coin- 
cide in ■ many parts of California about th.e 
first of January, but in heavy loams in region 
of large rainfall, the soil may then be too 
cold and wet. There will, however, be some 
variation from year to year, and different 
parts of the State disagree as to the date. 
Hence, the general rule must be based on 
conditions, that of the tree and that of the 
soil. If the novice can not judge these for 
himself, he must get the advice of some one 
of experience in the locality. 

The dormant period of a tree in Califor- 
nia, as has been stated in another connection, 
is very short. As many cold-climate annual 
plants become perennial here, so our decidu- 
ous trees, in comparatively frostless portions 
of the State, evince a tendency to become 
evergreen. The period of dormancy in the 
root is also shorter than the inactivity of the 
top. Trees transplanted early are found to 
have their root wounds callused over and 
new rootlets considerably advanced before 
the buds swell. Therefore, by early planting 
the tree begins soon to take hold upon the 
soil, the latter being well settled around it 
by rains, which often follow early planting, 
and the high winds, which are apt to come 
in the spring in some parts of the State, 
fini! the tree well anchored and readv to main- 
tain itself. 

Again, the proper condition of soil, if not 
seized at its first coming, may not recur 
until after the great storms of the winter 
are over, say in Februarv or March (in most 



Planting in a Furrow 



California Fruits : 



parts of the State), and then often the buds 
are bursting into bloom and leaf. Planting 
when the soil is water-soaked and cold is 
very undesirable, for in such condition it can 
not be properly disposed aljoul tlie roots, the 
inactive roots may begin to decay and trees 
moved at this period are apt to show their 
dislike of the treatment. If the work has 
been delayed unavoidably, so that early plant- 
ing can not be done, it is better to keep the 
trees heeled in until the proper soil condi- 
tion returns, even if it be rather late, for 
a little extra attention to cultivation for re- 
tention of moisture will pull through a late- 
planted tree. 

These remarks are of very wide application 
in this State, but there are exceptions. In 
our high altitudes, where the climate ap- 
proaches Eastern conditions in cold and snow- 
fall, practice in planting will also approxi- 
mate Eastern methods. In regions of very 
heavy rainfall and on the upper coast where 
the rainy season and moisture from fogs 
are prolonged late in the spring, late plant- 
ing is safer and surer than in the warmer, 
drier parts of the State. 

Another consideration, too, is the slope 
of the land to be planted. Our hillside fruit 
growers in regions of heavy winter storms 
sometimes plant slopes, which, if plowed deep 
in the fall, are apt to wash badly during the 
heavy winter rains. On such slopes it is 
better to plow late in the winter, after the 
heavy storms are over, and plant when the 
soil has become warm and mellow. 

THE OPERATION OF PLANTING. 

Tree planting should be carefully and 
well done, but it need not necessarily be 
slowly done. With a kind soil deeply worked 
and just in the right condition for planting, 
trees may be put in well and rapidly. Two 
men work together at a decided advantage. 
Using the straight "tree-setter." which has 
already been described, one takes each end, 
and as soon as the center notch encloses the 
tree stake, the setter stakes are pushed into 
the soil, the "setter" is laid aside, and the 
two men, taking up their shovels or spades, 
begin first around the outside of the hole, 
throwing all the surface dirt on the same 
side of the hole and leaving the tree stake to 
be thrown out last, because its remaining 
serves to center the hole. The lower soil is 



now thrown to the other side of the hole, 
and when depth enough is reached, the soil 
at the bottom of the hole is loosened up to 
the depth of a shovel-thrust, without remov- 
ing it from the hole. A shovelful or two of 
the surface soil is thrown into the center of 
the hole, being allowed to remain higher in 
the center, because this generally furnishes 
a cushion about the natural shape of the 
under surface of the root system of the tree. 
Now replace the tree-setter upon its end 
pegs, let one man hold the tree with its stem 
in the central notch in the setter, and while 
the other man shovels in the surface earth 
rather slowly at first, the man who holds the 
tree with one hand will spread out the roots, 
pulverize and pack the earth around them, 
being sure that no cavities are left under 
any of the roots, but that their surfaces 
everywhere come in contact with the soil, 
and that they spread out as widely as pos- 
sible. The earth is being continuously put 
in by the shoveler, and when the roots are 
covered the planter steps in the hole and 
carefully firms the soil down upon the roots 
by tramping (especially at the cut ends of 
the roots around the outer side of the hole), 
at the same time judging of the perpendicu- 
larity of the tree with his eye. When this 
is done, both men use their shovels and fill 
up the hole with the earth taken from below, 
being sure to leave the last few inches at 
the surface pulverized, but untramped, unless 
the soil be very light so that tramping will 
not overpack it. Some one said long ago 
that one should not plant a tre'e as he does 
a post, ramming down the earth to the very 
top of the hole. Many trees are doubtless 
ruined by overzeal in this respect. 

The shovel has been mentioned frequently 
as the tool to be used in planting. Where 
the soil is deeply plowed, well worked, and 
free from stone, the shovel is the most rapid 
tool. Under other conditions the long-handled 
spade, and in some cases the long-handled 
spading-fork, serves admirably in loosening 
the soil at the bottom of the holes and in 
breaking up lumps while filling in. One man 
with a shovel or spade, and the other with 
the fork, make a good combination in this 
respect. 

Planting in a Furrow. — A practice which 
has been largely followed in the Sacramento 
Valley and which attains greatest speed and 



How to Grow Them 



87 



Depth of Planting 



cheapness consists in laying off as described 
on page ninety-three, and then proceeding 
with a heavy Hsting plow, followed by a 
subsoil plow in the same furrow. The trees 
are then rapidly set with the least digging. 
This is all done before the field is plowed. 
Plowing immediately follows planting. The 
advantages of this method are ease of work 
on firm ground instead of a plowed surface, 
and escape of injury to this surface by men 
and teams in planting after plowing. 

RANDOM SUGGESTIONS. 

The roots of every tree should be ex- 
amined before planting. All large root ends 
should have a fresh, clean cut with a sharp 
knife or shears. Make a slanting cut with 
the cut surface on the underside of the root. 
Where a root is mangled or bruised, it should 
in most cases be cut back to a sound place. 

The tree should be placed if possible with 
the same side toward the sun as was ex- 
posed to the sun in the nursery; at all 
events, the wound made by the cutting away 
of the seedling stock above the bud should 
be at the north or northeast, in order that this 
weak point may be shaded as much as pos- 
sible from the afternoon sun. 

If the roots of the young tree grow more 
to one side than the other, place the strong- 
est roots toward the prevailing wind. 

The use of water to settle the earth around 
the roots is sometimes desirable in sections 
where the rainfall is light or uncertain. Pour 
in the water after the hand-work in spreading 
the roots and in pressing the soil under and 
around them has been done and the hole 
partly filled. When the water has soaked 
away, fill the hole with fine earth zinthout 
tramping. In irrigated districts leading the 
water along the line of trees in a furrow to 
settle the ground at planting is a good prac- 
tice. It is almost essential in the planting 
of evergreen trees which are best moved 
during the dry season. In early planting 
in parts of the State where the rainfall is 
abundant, there may be no need of water- 
settling; in late planting, however, it will 
sometimes be found of advantage. Puddling 
the roots, or dipping them in thin mud and 
planting with this mud adhering, is governed 
by much the same conditions as water-set- 
tling; it may insure the growth of the tree 
when otherwise it misht be seriously in- 



jured by drouth. With puddled roots especial 
care should also be taken to leave the surface 
loose to prevent evaporation. In making 
puddle, use loamy soil and never adobe, for 
in dry time the latter will bake around the 
roots and may kill the tree. 

The Use of M.\nure. — Never put manure 
in the hole with the tree. Sometimes the in- 
junction is. Never put anything but well- 
rotted manure in the hole. It is better to put 
none of any kind. Manure should be spread 
upon the ground after planting. The rains 
then leach it out and it may be turned under 
in the spring plowing. There are, however, 
light soils in the drier parts of the State 
where turning under manure in the spring is 
a disadvantage, as it makes the soil too porous 
and facilitates evaporation. On such soils, 
extra care should be taken to have the 
manure thoroughly decomposed by compost- 
ing, as will be described in the chapter on 
fertilizers, and all applications should be made 
either late in the spring to act as a mulch 
during the summer, or if a mulch is not 
thought desirable, apply the manure in the 
fall before the first rains, so that it may be 
turned under at the first plowing and have 
the whole winter for disintegration. In this 
dry climate there is often misapprehension, 
especially among newcomers, as to what is 
well-rotted manure. They take the scrap- 
ings of the corral, which have been trampled 
and pulverized, but which, having been kept 
dry, have never rotted. When this is put in 
the holes with the tree and then moistened 
by rainfall or irrigation, it will burn the 
tree, the first sign of the injury being the 
drying up of the leaves. It is, on the whole, 
safest and best to put nothing but well- 
pulverized surface soil around the roots of 
the young tree. 

Depth of Planting. — The depth to which 
trees should be set has always been a matter 
of discord among the planters. The safest 
rule under ordinary circumstances is to get 
the tree as nearly as possible the same depth 
it stood in the nursery row ; that is, so as 
to have it stand that way when the ground 
has settled, or the surface returned by culti- 
vation to its normal level. In planting in 
loose soil in the drier parts of the State, it 
is often desirable to plant rather low, because 
several inches depth of the surface soil be- 



Guarding against Sunburn 



California Fruits 



come dry, and the roots should be well in 
the moist layer. But if irrigation is to be 
practiced, it must be remembered that the 
water level will rise when the soil is saturated, 
and deep-planted trees are apt to suffer. The 
e.xperience of recent years is decidedly against 
deep planting, which used to be advised be- 
cause of our dry climate. Thousands of trees 
have been ruined l)v planting too deep except 
in light sandy soil. 

Speed in Planting. — On good soil, well 
prepared, trees can be put in rapidly and the 
job still be well done. It is reported that 
on one occasion, in planting almonds, twenty 
men finished sixty-four acres from Friday 
noon to Wednesday night, placing the stakes, 
digging the holes, and planting the trees. 
This would be almost three-quarters of an 
acre per day per man. In planting peaches 
and apricots an average of one hundred trees 
per day to the man has been attained. On 
the mellow loam, in another case, the average 
was one hundred and twenty-five trees to the 
man, digging holes two feet square in land 
which had been plowed twelve inches deep. 
Such work is only possible on good soil, 
well prepared, and by men who work well 
together. 



M.\ppiNG AND Labeling. — Where mixed 
varieties of fruit are planted, the orchard 
should be mapped as soon as the trees are 
set. A good durable map is made of the 
glazed muslin, such as carpenters and archi- 
tects use for their drawings. The map can 
easily be drawn to a scale by using a fraction 
of an inch to represent a foot. After the 
map is made, it can be rolled on a broom 
stick and easily preserved. With such a 
record, the grower need not care what be- 
comes of the labels, as he can locate a variety 
any time by its row and tree number. If, how- 
ever, one desires labels, let them be made in 
this way : Take a piece of common sheet 
zinc five inches wide. Across this, cut pieces 
three-quarters of an inch wide at one end 
and tapering to a point at the other. Near 
the wider end write plainly with a common 
lead-pencil the name of the variety. This 
will get brighter by exposure to the weather. 
The small end may be coiled around the 
branch of the tree ; it will yield as the tree 
grows and will do no injury. Such labels 



will last for a long time. Labels attached by 
a cord or wire should be removed as soon 
as the trees are set, for they are apt to be 
forgotten and the tree seriously injured by 
the cutting in of the ligature. Even when 
labels are used the map is the only surety, 
because any kind of a label is apt to be lost 
by accident or through malice or mischief 
of intruders. 

Mulching. — Although early-planted trees 
on deep soils in regions of sufficient rainfall 
need only good cultivation after planting, 
there are cases in which mulching is desirable. 
Various light materials may be used for a 
mulch, but nothing is better than well-rotted 
straw, in which fermentation has killed all 
weed seed. Apply it to a distance of two 
feet around the tree, and to a depth of not 
less than six inches. It is best done as soon 
as the tree is planted, and is to be especially 
recommened when late planting is practiced. 
Even in localities of light rainfall, if the 
trees are well mulched early in the winter, 
irrigation may be unnecessary for the young 
deciduous tree. Trees planted very late in 
the spring may, by using great care and 
mulching well, make as great a growth as 
those set out early in winter. This should 
not be an excuse for late planting, but where 
late planting is necessary, mulching will 
help the trees to pull through. It is a far 
easier way of keeping the ground moist than 
by irrigating, but is not a substitute for it 
where systematic irrigation is necessary, 
though irrigation may often be lessened, and 
in some cases obviated, by extra cultivation 
or mulching, at least until the trees come 
into bearing. 

Guarding against Sunburn. — Newly-set 
trees should be protected against sunburn. 
This can be easily done by winding strips 
of burlap from old grain sacks spirally 
around the stems beginning just below the 
ground surface to the points wnere the young 
shoots will appear. When these start the 
strip can be loosened and rewound so as to 
protect the bark between the shoots. The 
top can be fastened with a stitch or two 
with a twine needle. Manufactured "tree pro- 
tectors" of paper or rushes which are readily 
adjusted around the trees are now largely 
sold. Whitewash made according to the 
formula given at the close of Chapter IX 



How to Grow Them 



89 



Cutting Back at Planting 



is a good protection from sunburn. For 
young trees, however, it should be made with 
air-slacked lime, which has lost some of its 
causticity. Another whitewash, which has 
been largely used for young trees, consists 
of four ounces of whale oil soap dissolved in 
each gallon of water, Spanish whiting being 
stirred in to give the solution a paint-like 
consistency. Millions of trees have perished 
in this State, and as many more been con- 
demned to sickly lives, because of sunburn, 
and borers which seek the injured bark for 
entrance. Pruning has much to do with 
saving trees from this evil, as will be shown 
in the proper connection, but in the hotter 
parts of the State, the first precaution 
should be to shade the bark of the young 
tree with some artificial protection. 



Cutting Back at Planting. — Whatever 
idea the grower may have as to shaping his 
tree, it must be cut back when planted. Lift- 
ing from the nursery has removed a consider- 
able part of the root system of the young 
tree and the top must be reduced accordingly. 
The planter who dislikes to sacrifice the fine 
top will sacrifice future growth and vigor by 
retaining it. The tree may struggle through 
and regain strength, but it will for years be 
smaller than if it had been properly cut back 
at planting. If the moisture supply should 
he short, a tree may die the first summer 
which would have survived if differently 
treated at planting. The manner of cutting 
back depends somewhat upon the style of 
pruning to be followed afterward, as will 
be considered in the next chapter. 




Purposes of Pruning 



90 



California Fruits 



CHAPTER XII. 

PRUNING ORCHARD TREES AND THINNING FRUIT. 



T IS not intended to enter into a discussion 
of the general theories of pruning. The 
reader desiring to pursue them is referred 
to the abundant Hterature on the subject in 
Eastern and European treatises. The effort 
to approve or condemn these theories by 
considering them in the hght of Califorrua 
experience and observation might lead j 
interesting conclusions, but it has no place 
in a work aiming merely at an exposition 
of what appears to be the most satisfactory 
practice in California fruit growing. It will 
be found that this practice varies somewhat 
in the different regions of California, some- 
times in degree, sometimes in kind, because 
of different local conditions, and it might be 
found that nearly all reasonable theories of 
pruning could be verified in California ex- 
perience. 

Pruning in California is at present almost 
exclusively a shaping process. Our fruit 
trees are naturally so prone to bear fruit that 
pruning to produce fruitfulness is seldom 
thought of, and still more rarely practiced, 
while pruning to reduce bearing wood, and 
thus decrease the burden of the tree, is quite 
widely done, to take the place, in part, of 
thinning out the fruit. Pruning to restore 
vigor to the tree, as in cutting back to 
induce a new wood growth, is also rather 
a rare proceeding, but probably could 
be much more widely employed to advantage. 
We prune, then, for shape and for the many 
practical advantages which inhere in the form 
now prevailing in California orchards. Some 
of these advantages are peculiar to our cli- 
mate; others we share with those who advo- 
cate a similar form elsewhere. 

Our best orchards of the same fruits in 
adjacent localities are almost identical in 
form and general appearance of the tree;, 
and those more distant differ chiefly in the 
extent to which the same principles are 



applied. And this is not because the trees 
are allowed to follow their natural incli- 
nation, which should secure resemblance, but 
because their natural bent is resolutely con- 
quered by agreement of growers that they 
know what is good for the tree; and this 
substantial unanimity is the result of the 
experience of the last fifty-five years. People 
possessed of the art temperament sometimes 
complain of the depressing uniformity and 
artificiality of orchard-tree shapes in Cali- 
fornia. They are apt to lament the fact that 
systematic orcharding destro3's the picturesque- 
ness of tree-growth. They should under- 
stand that such conception of a fruit tree 
has no place in commercial fruit growing. 
The producing tree is the result of the con- 
ception of an agency to serve certain purposes. 
The orchardist does not pursue uniformity 
merely for its own sake, but rather for the 
purpose it serves, and the fact that many 
thinking men have practically agreed upon 
a certain form as an ideal of producing ability 
is demonstration that such form is, at least, 
approximately correct. There is an '.n- 
dustrial conception, of a tree which is neces- 
sarily and essentially different from an art- 
conception of picturesqueness based upon the 
feral type. The wild tree is rude and crude 
from a cultural point of view. 

PRACTICAL PURPOSES OF PRUNING. 
One of the first things for the beginner 
to undertake as he approaches the practice 
of pruning trees and vines is to form a good 
idea of the purposes to be served. Imitation 
is not the foundation of intelligent pruning, 
though it yields many valuable suggestions. 
Satisfactory work rests upon a correct under- 
standing of the reasons' for each act and to 
the attainment of this, all study, observation 
and experience should tend. Possessing this, 
one can proceed capably, modifying method 



How to Grow Them 



91 



Size of Fruit 



to meet condition, and producing desirable 
results. Receive all suggestions and then go 
quietly to the tree and study your problem 
in its shade. The tree is the best revelator of 
its needs. Some of the best pruners in Cali- 
fornia are men who were untrained to horti- 
culture before they entered upon their orchard 
work. Reading, discussion, systematic instruc- 
tion are all valuable. They save much time 
and many errors, but recourse to the tree af- 
fords the sovereign test of attainment. 

These may be counted among the practical 
purposes to be attained by pruning in Cali- 
fornia: (a) Convenience of the grower; (b) 
health and strength of the tree; (c) regula- 
tion of heat and light ; (d) attainment of strong 
bearing wood; (e) attainment of size in fruit; 
( f) promotion of regular bearing. Examine 
trees with reference to their embodiment of 
these characters and one can hardly fail to 
secure rays of light upon the subject of prun- 
ing which seems dark to so many. 

CoxvENiBNCE. — Trees which branch near 
the ground are most quickly and cheaply 
handled in all the operations of pruning, 
spraying, fruit-thinning and picking. Low 
trees with obliquely-rising branches are more 
easily cultivated than any form with horizon- 
tal branches, unless the head is carried so 
high that the animals pass easily under the 
tree. To do this sacrifices all the other con- 
veniences and economies which actually de- 
termine profit, and is really out of the ques- 
tion from a commercial point of view. Some- 
times it does not pay to pick some fruits at 
a certain distance above the ground, when 
picking at half that distance yields a profit. 

He.\lth .\xd Strexgth.^ — It is miperative 
in most parts of this State that the sunshine 
be not allowed to touch the bark during the 
heat of the day. This protection is secured 
even for young trees, by low branching and 
the encouragement of small, low laterals. 
The low tree with properly spaced branches 
attains superior strength by virtue of thick, 
strongly knit, short growth between branches, 
and by its strong, stiff, obliquely-rising 
growth sustains weight which brings hori- 
zontal branches to the ground, and thus even 
high-headed trees are liable to continually 
increasing interference with cultivation, and 
the desperate grower has to raise the head 
of his tree higher into the air and farther 



above the profit line, while at the same time 
he renders it more liable to sunburn, to bark- 
binding, and to unthrift by forcing the sap 
to flow an unnecessary distance and through 
wood and bark which impede its movement 
Besides, a low tree escapes stress by strong 
winds which a high tree invites and at the 
same time is less able to withstand. Prun- 
ing for health and strength of tree also in- 
cludes the removal of unthrifty or diseased 
parts, which are not only an encumbrance to 
the tree but may communicate to other parts 
the causes of their ill condition. 

He.\t .\nd Light. — The maintenance of 
strong bearing wood in the lower part of the 
tree is conditioned upon the proper pruning 
of the top of the tree. How far the uppet- 
levels or the shade-layer of the tree can be 
safely opened, depends upon the local climate 
in each fruit region. The rule must be the 
higher the summer heat the denser the tree ; 
the lower the heat the thinner the tree ; but 
everywhere the proper condition of openness 
must be constantly in view in pruning. Not 
alone must this be done to maintain thrifty 
growth below, but it is also essential to the 
best growth and ripening of the fruit in the 
lower and interior parts of the tree. Fruit 
inferior in size, color and quality results, 
in part, from lack of pruning to regulate the 
admission of light and heat, sometimes one, 
sometimes both, to the shaded portion of the 
tree. 

Be.'vking Wood. — Good fruit develops on 
good bearing wood and good bearing wood 
is the product of proper degrees of light and 
heat, as has just been urged. But bearing 
wood in the case of some fruits is new wood, 
and reduction of old wood for the purpose of 
forcing the growth of new wood must be 
constantly in mind. Renewal is more or less 
a consideration with all trees, and especially 
the securing of strong new wood. This is 
a point upon which close study of the bear- 
ing tree will yield most satisfactory sugges- 
tions. 

Size of Fruit. — The size of fruit, provid- 
ing the tree is healthy and vigorous, depends 
upon the character and amount of bearing 
wood which the tree is allowed to carry. Re- 
moval of part of the fruit burden is done by 
thinning after it is well set, but this labor 



California Vase Form 



92 



California Fruits 



should always be minimized by antecedent 
pruning, which aims to retain more or less 
bearing wood according to the vigor, size 
and bearing habit of the tree. Thinning out 
of bearing shoots and spurs, when either are 
clearly seen to be in excess, should be the 
constant study of the pruner. 

Regular Bearing. — This point is largely 
involved in the preceding and affords an ad- 
ditional incentive. Regulating the amount of 
fruit borne in one year may involve the profit 
of two years, because a tree may not be able 
to produce an excessive amount of fruit and 
perfect good fruit buds for the following year. 
It may generally make buds which will bloom, 
but not always that. If it does make the 
bloom, it is no guaranty that the bloom will 
be strong and effective for bearing. Con- 
sequently, pruning for reasonable amount of 
bearing should always be borne in view and 
should be practiced at the close of the year 
of non-bearing with particular diligence, if 
the alternate year bearing habit is to be 
broken up. 

The foregoing are among the practical 
purposes to be served in pruning. There are 
others, but these will suffice to emphasize a 
single point, and that is, that pruning can not 
be compressed into a single formula, nor can 
one learn it by a recipe. There are various 
ends to attain ; they may be attained in dif- 
ferent ways, although it is not strange that 
substantial agreement in methods does largely 
prevail. It is better to try to understand 
the purposes than to memorize the formulae. 
Get the tree and its interest clearly in the 
mind ; have an ideal toward which to work ; 
be more interested in why a neighbor prunes 
in a certain way than how he does it. I.earn 
constantly by all available means, and at the 
same time study the visible forms and aim 
to understand their fullest significance. 

FORM OF TREE BEST SUITED TO 
CALIFORNIA CONDITIONS. 
The form of deciduous fruit tree which 
prevails with singular uniformity all over the 
State is the "vase," or "'goblet," or "'wine- 
glass" form, all these terms signifying a sim- 
ilar general shape. There are different ways 
in which this form is secured and maintained 
in different parts of the State, and with dif- 
ferent fruits, which will be especially noted 
in the chapters devoted to these fruits. 



The mainspring of success in California is 
to grow low trees. Low is a term ad- 
mitting of degrees, it is true, and may imply 
a trunk six inches up to one or two feet, in 
the clear. In addition to the general advan- 
tages of low-trained trees which have bi.tn 
described, there are special reasons for this 
form in California. Hundreds of thousands 
of trees have been destroyed by the exposure 
of a long, bare trunk to the rays of the after- 
noon sun. The sunburned sides have given 
the conditions desired by borers, and destruc- 
tion has quickly followed. Sometimes young 
trees have not survived their first season in 
the orchard, because of burned bark; or this, 
with the added injury by the borers. It is 
also found by California experience that 
growth is more vigorous in the branches 
when they emerge near the ground. Even 
where actual burning may not occur the 
travel of the sap through the longer distance 
of trunk is undesirable. It is believed, also, 
that benefit results from shading of the 
ground at the base of the trees, by reducing 
evaporation, and by maintaining a tempera- 
ture of soil better suited to vigorous root- 
growth. 

But whatever may be the reasons, the fact 
is indisputable, the higher the prevailing sum- 
mer temperature, and the greater the aridity, 
the lower should the trees be headed. Trees 
which will do well in the central and upper 
coast region and adjacent to the bay of San 
Francisco, with twenty-four to thirty-six 
inches of clear trunk would dwindle and 
probably perish in the heated valleys in all 
parts of the State. In such situations, both 
north and south, the best practice is to head 
the tree fifteen, twelve, and some even hold 
as low as six inches from the ground. There 
will always be some difference in opinion as 
to detail, but the necessity of making the 
trunk short enough to be effectually shaded 
by the foliage is admitted by all growers. 

Characteristics or the Calieornia Vase 
Form. — This vase form is a product of French 
ingenuity in the training of dwarf trees, but 
it has undergone very niarked modification in 
California, losing much of the accuracy of 
its outline and gaining vastly in speed of 
work and in bearing capacity of tree without 
sacrificing any practical value wliich inheres 
in the design. 



How to Grow Them 



93 



Cutting Back at Planting 



The California vase form dispenses with 
the central stem or trunk at a certain short 
distance above the ground, but this is not 
done for the purpose of securing a hollow 
or open-center tree, which is a leading char- 
acteristic of the old European vase-form. 
The few branches which are desired to grow 
from the short stem are pruned when the tree 
is young to induce successive branching with 
short interspaces. At each cutting the aim 
is to get two branches from one, and nearly 
as possible of equal vigor, so the California 
tree does not, except, of course, in occasional 
instances, show the outline of a leader from 
the bottom to the top, but there is a suc- 
cession of branchings, turned this way or 
that by the skilful pruner, occupying avail- 
able air space, distributing the weight so 
it comes more nearly over the center of 
gravity and at the same time knitting the 
fibers of the branch so that the weight of the 
fruit is well sustained. This idea, however, 
is not allowed to go so far as to wholly close 
the interior of the tree, but to retain such 
degree of open interior as is found desirable. 
When the tree is laden with fruit, the 
weight naturally expands the top quite enough, 
to admit the sunlight without exposing either 
the fruit or the branches to danger of burn- 
ing. Thus it appears that instead of the 
true vase or wine-glass, with hollow interior 
and thin walls, we have the general exterior 
outline of this model, but give a good pan 
of the central area of the figure to bearing 
shoots, and thus secure a large bearing siu'- 
face with well--trengthened supports. 

It has been found that this many-branching 
form, developed upon a few main branches 
well placed upon the trunk, gives a stronger 
tree than can be had by growing a consid- 
erable number of leaders, all starting from 
near the point where the tree was headed at 
planting. Such leaders crowd each other at 
the point of emergence from the stem, and 
when laden with fruit, sway outward and 
break out at this point. A vastly stronger 
tree is secured by starting but four or five 
branches from the low trunk and letting 
them emerge from different sides of the stem, 
and at different levels. Thus each main 
attachment to the stem has abundant room, 
and the wood enlarges symmetrically and 
solidly. The expansion of the top is at- 
tained by the branching which follows the 



cutting back of succeeding years. Starting 
branches from nearly the same level on the 
stem has been the occasion of great losses 
of overladen trees, and quite a considerable 
recourse to strengthening up weak trees by 
running bolts through from side to side at 
the points where experience shows breakage 
is likely to occur. In this respect it is now 
clearly seen that the practice which was 
widely adopted a few years ago of begin- 
ning with a very short stem and using the 
three or four adjacent buds nearest the point 
to which the tree was cut back at planting 
is defective. It is much better not to cut 
back so far at planting, but to leave a longer 
trunk, keep a greater distance between the 
main branches and still have the lowest 
branch as near the ground as before, thus 
securing a tree which is practically as low 
as that secured by the old method of start- 
ing. This point will be enforced by illus- 
trations. 



HOW TO SECURE THE DESIRABLE 
FORM. 

For the benefit of the inexperienced reader, 
it will be well to illustrate the steps by which 
the form of tree found so generally desira- 
ble is to be attained. 

Cutting Back at Planting. — This has 
been shown on page 89 to be essential to 
strong growth of the transplanted tree. It 
is also the prime act in securing a tree with 
a low head and strong branches. Formerly 
trees were cut back farther than desirable 
and the branches allowed to crowd each 
other, as has just been stated. It is better 
to retain twenty-four inches of stem than 
twelve inches — providing care is taken dur- 
ing the first summer to prevent, by pinching, 
the growth of too many branches near to- 
gether. Allow those to grow which are more 
distant from each other on the stem and pinch 
the intervening shoots. In this way one can 
have the lowest branch at six inches from 
the ground in the hot valleys if desired, or 
twelve inches in the coast valleys, and the 
highest branch at eighteen or twenty-four 
inches. This gives about twice the distance 
between the main branches which was for- 
merly allowed, and it is of vast advantage 
to the strength of the tree. The illustrations 
of this fact are from trees planted by the 



Pruning for form 



94 



California Fruits 



writer in 1887 to test this matter. At this 
date they are large trees and show the 
forms of heads resulting from different spac- 
ing of branches on the young trees during 
the first summer's growth. 



whole top, and usually others will start be- 
low afterwards. If there are no buds visi- 
ble on the stem at the place where the head 
is desired, the choice must be made between 
heading the tree higher up, where the buds are. 









Pruning for branch spacing. 

Yearling apple marked to cut back for greater or less space between 
main branches ; also first year's erowth from each beginning marked 
for first winter pi iming. 



First, then, cut back the tree just after 
planting, as shown in the engraving, decid- 
ing first at what height you wish your trees 
to form heads, and cut them all back as un- 
iformly as possible and still secure a good 
bud just below the point of cutting. To 
preserve these buds the trees should be 
handled carefully while removing from the 
nursery and during planting. 

If the tree has already grown laterals 
where the head is desired, three or four 
of these properly placed on the stem may 
be selected to form the main branches, short- 
ened in to the sound bud nearest the stem, 
and other laterals, not desired to form the 
head, removed. This treatment is shown in 
the engraving of a young peach tree well 
branched in the nursery. If all the laterals 
on the young tree have started out above 
where the head is desired, as is sometimes 
the case, it mav be necessary to remove the 



or cutting back without regard to buds, 
trusting to the development of latent buds 
at the right place, or to the growth of a 
shoot from below which can be cut back- to 
form a head the following year. It is for 
this reason, among others, that planters pre- 
fer a yearling tree which has not branched, 
but has good buds all along the stem. 
Peaches and apricots usually branch in the 
nursery but usually have dormant buds at 
the bases of such branches which can be em- 
ployed in making new growth where it is 
desired. 

After cutting back at planting, the shoots 
desired to form the head are allowed to 
make their full growth without interference. 
All shoots not desired for branches are 
pinched off after growing out two or three 
inches, leaving a bunch of leaves to shade 
tilt trunk and contribute to its stouter growth. 
Constant watchfulness is necessary to pinvii 
off undesirable branches all the first summer. 



How to Grow Them 



95 



Pruning the Apple 



First Pruning. — In the winter following 
planting, the shoots of the previous season's 
growth are cut back to about ten or twelve 
inches from their junction with the stem. 
Some prefer to cut shorter, but this is apt 
to huddle the branches too close together 
when they get old and stout. Growers, 
however, do not agree on the exact length 
which these future , main branches should 
be left at the first pruning. 

If. during the first summer's growth, all 
shoots except the number desired to form 
the head have been pinched back, the first 



are allowed to run out their full growth, 
except where excessive growth is made, and 
then it is repressed by summer pruning. This 
is done with the apricot in the warmer parts 
of the State, as will be considered at length 
in the chapter on that fruit. Usually, how- 
ever, the main branches are untouched during 
the second summer's growth unless some 
are running out so far as to make the tree 
lop-sided. During the following winter the 
main branches are cut back from one-half 
to two-thirds of the growth they have made, 
and if too many strong laterals have grown 
below this point, some are shortened, others 





Forms of head resulting from cutting back. 

Twelve-5 ear-old apple tree in the writer's garden in Berkeley, showing for 
from cutting back for greater and less spacing of main branches at planting. 



of head resulti: 



winter pruning consists only in cutting back 
the main branches. If laterals have grown 
on the parts of these branches which are 
to be left on the tree, they should be cut 
back to a bud or two. This is better than 
IX moving them entirely, for the next sum- 
mer they will be pinched after throwing 
cut a few leaves to shade and thicken the 
branches, just as the short growths left 
the previous sumnicr serve the main stem. 

Second Pruning. — During the second 
summer it is usual to allow two branches 
to grow from each of the main branches left 
at the previous winter pruning, and to pinch 
off all others, as described. These branches 



are removed entirely where they are apt 
to cross or crowd each other or to inter- 
fere with cultivation. It is not desirable, 
however, that all small growth should be clean- 
ly removed. Some of these small shoots will 
bear a little fruit and the leaf action is in any 
case desirable as a contributor to the strength 
of the larger branches to which they are 
attached. Besides, they serve to shade the 
bark from sunburn. 

Third Pruning. — When the tree reaches 
its third winter pruning, its form is well 
outlined, and early-bearing trees like the 
peach, apricot, almond, Japanese plum, etc., 
will give the grower a respectable crop the 



Results of Experiment 



96 



California Fruits 




Ifi'vi 





^ P;- - 




Results of cutting back to longer and shorter stems. 



Apricot and cherry tree? twelve years old, showing results of ciittins back to longer and shorter stems aL 
planting, in 1S97. as an experiment in head form. 



How to Grow Tlieni 



97 



Pruning- Bearino; Trees 



next season. To bear this crop greater care 
should be taken at the third winter prun- 
ing to leave the small laterals low down 
on the main branches, for on them, clustered 
close in the head of the tree, most of the 
first crop will be found. Though some trees, 
as stated, do bear earlier than the third sum- 
mer, the fruit is not usually considered of 
commercial account until the third summer. 
.•\n engraving is given of a peach tree just 
after its second winter pruning. It is a 



subsequent pruning is chiefl\' directed to- 
ward the retention of that form ; for strength 
of branch and stem ; for renewal of bearing 
wood ; for regulation of amount of bear- 
ing wood; for relative light and shade, and" 
for convenience in cultivation and other 
orchard work. Naturally, these ends are 
sought according to the needs and habits 
of different fruits, and the methods of at- 
taining them will be discussed in the chapters 
treating of these fruits. There are, how- 





Yearling peach. 



Cut back at planting. First summer's growth in the orchard. 



These sketches, and those on pages 98 and 99, represent the progress of the peach 
tree from a branched yearling to bearing form entering the third summer. 



ver\- good representative of the vase-form 
of a tree as grown in California. It has 
four main branches, each issuing from a dif- 
ferent point on the stem, each penriitted to 
carry two main branches, which are not 
arranged around the circumference, but some 
of them tending toward the center. At the 
third pruning more shoots have been left 
than are required by the rule, for. starting 
with four main branches, there are usually 
sixteen left at the third pruning. 

PRUNING BEARING TREES. 

Three winter prunings of deciduous trees 
usually establish their permanent form, and 



ever, certain general considerations which 
are proper in this connection : 

Pruning during the dormancy of the tree 
induces greater growth of wood during the 
following summer; pruning during the active 
period reduces wood growth and promotes 
fruit-bearing. The amount of wood removed 
during the dormant period will make the 
summer growth of wood proportionately 
stronger. Whether the total weight of wood 
growth would be greater may be questioned, 
but the effective wood growth is certainlv 
greater. Whether the feci of new wood 
grown on a peach tree cut back to stumps 
in the winter would be greater in weight 



Pruning Bearing Trees 



98 



California Fruits 



than all the inches of growth which would 
be scattered all over the surface of the tree 
if not cut back, may be doubted, but the 
new growth secured by cutting back will 
be of immense vigor and the following year 
will bear large fruit, while the new growth 
on the tree not cut back will be thin and 
short and the fruit absent or indifferent. 
The weaker the tree or the branch cr twig 
of the tree, the greater the part of it to 
be removed when dormant to get the stronger 
new growth. 



will reduce its crop for lack or weakness of 
new laterals ; a prune tree too severely 
winter-pruned will reduce its crop for lack 
of old spurs. Again, some fruits, or varie- 
ties of fruits, bear chiefly upon the tips, 
others chiefly upon the lateral spurs ; shorten- 
ing one reduces the crop largely ; shortening 
the other may increase the marketable crop 
by decreasing the aggregate number. These 
and other similar facts suggest that pruning 
bearing trees, to be intelligently pursued, 
must [ie accompaniefl with the fullest pos- 





First winter pruning. 



—yvu 

Second summer growth in orchard. 



In the case of fruit trees in vigorous 
growth pruning during the active period or 
allowing the wood to go uncut during the 
dormant period, have the same effect, viz., 
the promotion of fruiting. Some trees, like 
apricots and peaches, which bear upon new 
laterals, will bear fruit even though heavily 
winter-cut,if these small laterals are re- 
tained on the lower parts of the main 
branches. Some other trees, like the prune, 
which bear on spurs, will delay the forma- 
tion of spurs if heavily winter-cut. These 
two facts suggest two diverse policies in 
pruning bearing trees : A peach tree unpruned 



sible knowledge of the hearing habit of 
the fruit or variety thereof. 

Cutting hack or "shortening in" should 
be done in a way which will reduce the burst 
of new shoots near the cut. This is meas- 
urably secured by always cutting the branch 
at a strong lateral, because the sap f^ow 
into this lateral prevents undue pressure 
and forcing of latent buds in the vicinity 
of the cut. For this reason the cutting back 
of all branches to a certain definite height is 
wrong. Trees shorn across at a certain 
line become thick as a brush with top shoots 
which require extensive thinning, or the 



How to Grow Them 



99 



Times for Pruning 



bearing wood will soon be all at that level 
through failure of the densely-shaded bearing- 
wood below. Cut to the nearest lateral be- 
low the line you wish to approximate, and 
shorten that lateral if desirable, and the re- 
sult will be fewer and stronger shoots than 
from a stub-cut. 

In the treatment of bearing trees the 
main effort should generally be toward thin- 
ning or reducing the number of bearing 




Second winter pruning in orchard. 

shoots. This is related to the important 
work of thinning the fruit to reduce the 
burden of the tree, and will be mentioned 
again in that connection. The work has, 
however, a bearing beyond the size of in- 
dividual fruit specimens. It involves the 
whole future of the tree as a profitable affair. 
An unthinned tree becomes a thicket of 
small, weak, and dying laterals and spurs. 
An attempt to cure this afterwards by sawing 
out many large branches is only partially 
successful, though perhaps the best thing 
that can be done after such condition has 
been allowed to exist. The only way to 
keep the interior of the tree full enough of 



strong, bearing wood is to resolutely and 
regularly thin out surplus shoots as the tree 
advances in age and size. This work is 
as important with trees which are not regu- 
larly cut back, as with those which are thus 
treated. It is one of the most vital as well 
as the most generally neglected item in 
orchard practice. 

In thinning out lateral bearing shoots sel- 
dom leave more than one at any point ; 
select the strongest; remove the rest close to 
the branch. When a new sboot springs out 
at the base of an older one remove the older 
one ; when a new shoot breaks out on the 
side of an older one cut the older one back 
to that point. In thinning always reject 
the older, weaker laterals or spurs. This 
does not apply to the outbreak of strong 
suckers or water sprouts below the main 
branches ; they should usually be cleanly cut 
away unless a new main branch is desirable. 

Pruning of bearing trees should always 
have regard to the removal of branches 
which have become decrepit through sun- 
burn, blight or disease of any kind, frost 
injury, or in any form die-back from what- 
ever cause. Such wood is not only of les- 
sened value, but there is also danger of ex- 
tension of the trouble. Removing such wood 
and training new wood to take its place 
should always be ir mind. 

Where cuttmg of large branches is de- 
manded for any reason it should be remem- 
bered that the wounds are most quickly 
healed and least injury to the tree is to be 
apprehended if the cutting is done near the 
beginning oi the growing season and net 
at the beginning of the dormant period. 



TIMES FOR PRUNING. 

Some changes of view have lately pre- 
vailed as to the times, within the dormant 
period, during which winter-pruning can 
be done to the best advantage. Formerly 
it was thought to be a vital matter that no 
cutting should be done until the leaves had 
fallen, and this is still the prevaling practice, 
and may prove to be on all accounts the 
best. Recently, however, pruning in autumn, 
has been quite widely practiced. 



Summer Pruning 



100 



California Fruits 



Fall Pruning. — There is a time near the 
end of the active season in California when 
the foHage changes its aspect. There is 
no marked change in color, perhaps, but 
there is a certain limpness and drooping 
which betokens decided decline in activity. 
It comes first to the early fruits, the cherries 
and apricots, for instance, and upon old 
trees earlier than young ones. The buds 
are well formed ; the season's growth appar- 
ently complete. There are no frosts to hasten 
the fall of the leaf and it remains in place. 
Does it render any important service ? On 



not behind it all the season if l.he season is 
unusually rainy. Several years' practice of 
this method discloses no bad results except in 
the one item of increasing danger from frost. 
Vines and trees pruned early in the dor- 
mant period have a tendency to start growth 
earlier than those pruned late in the dormant 
period. In places, then, where early bloom 
and fruit-setting are particularly threatened 
by frost, this practice may be undesirable. 

Spring Pruning. — Resting largely upon 
this matter of retarding growth, the practice 













Young peach and apple trees, showing branches well spaced on the stems. 



the conclusion that it does not, many growers 
begin the winter pruning while the days are 
longer and ;.;)ound dry and firm rather than 
delay pruning until the short, dark days and 
rain-soiked soil of December and January 
render prunino' expensive and disagreeable. 
Those trees are first pru'ied A'hich fi'st 
assun e the appearance described, and tne 
work p'-occeds with other variT'ti'-s afterwm J; 
until the wni^cr pruning is fi'i'.shed by De 
cember r — about the time when it commonr,- 
began under the old practice. Not only is 
more thus accomplished in the same number 
of days' work, but the orchard is earlier in 
shape for the winter spraying ar^.u cultiva^^ion, 
and tlie grower is ahead of liis work and 



of pruning very late in the dormant period,, 
or, in fact, at the beginning of the growing 
season, is also gaining wider adoption where 
frost injury is especially feared. It is not 
actual freezing, but a drop of two or three 
degrees below the freezing point which is 
feared, and during recent years such a tem- 
perature has wrought havoc with some fruits, 
in early valley regions particularly. Later 
pruning, even after the bloom and foliage 
have appeared, has worked no injury to the 
trees, but it is less conveniently done than 
when the trees are free of foliage. 

Summer Pruning. — Summer pruning, to- 
induce bearing, is, as has been previously 



How to Grow Them 



101 



Renewing old Trees 



intimated, but little employed in this State, 
for the constant tendency of our trees is to 
bear early and to overbear. Enough has, 
however, been done in individual cases to 
show that fruit-bearing is promoted by prun- 
ing after the chief growth of the season has 
been attained. If the pruning results in 
forcing out laterals late in the season it 
has been done too early. What is desirable 
is the strengthening or development of fruit 
buds, and this will be accomplished after the 
energy has been too far dissipated to make 
new wood growth. 

Summer pruning to check the too exuber- 
ant wood growth of some kinds of trees is 
employed to some extent, chiefly in the 
warmer parts of the State, where the vegeta- 
tive process in some trees seems fairly to 
run riot, and unless checked is apt to ruin 
the tree by breaking to pieces when the wind 
and weight of fruit test its strength. The 
methods of summer pruning employed in 
different parts of the State for different fruits 
will he considered in connection with the 
special chapters on these fruits. 

Summer pruning to preserve form is an- 
other matter, and relates in the main to pinch- 
ing in, to check undesirable extension and to 
direct the sap toward shoots in which growth 
is desired. This practice is approved by most 
of our orchardists, and is employed by them 
to a greater or less extent. More people 
believe in than practice it, however, because 
the summer months, with their long succes- 
sion of fruits to be gathered and shipped or 
dried, and the additional consideration that 
there is always a scarcity of labor at this 
time, give the orchardist so much work to 
do that he is more apt to confine his "pinch- 
ing" to a little that he may do now and then 
when he has a few moments' leisure than to 
do the work thoroughly and systematically. 
The result is that the regular winter pruning 
is the main operation for tree shaping in this 
State. 

There is such a great dift'erence in opinion 
about summer pruning that it will be very 
difficult to make any assertions about it 
which will not be disputed. Much of this 
difference comes, of course, from different 
conditions prevailing in different trees and 
in different parts of the State, and some of 
these will be met, as already promised, in 
following chapters. Leaving these wholly 



out of consideration at this time, it is safe 
to advise those who wish to secure symmetry 
or any particular form in any kind of a 
tree, that they can resort to summer pinching 
with advantage, and can sometimes to advan- 
tage remove wood too large for the thumb 
and finger to sever. 

Constant watchfulness should be maintained 
for adventitious shoots starting out on stem 




Weak tree from ill-spaced branches. 

or limb at points where branches are not 
desired. Wherever they start out strongly, 
they should be pinched, or entirely removed, 
according to the best judgment to be formed 
in each case. Suckers, which, properly, 
according to Downing, are "shoots sent up 
from the root or from parts of the stem be- 
low the surface of the soil," should be re- 
moved whenever discovered. 

RENEWING OLD TREES. 
Improving and renewing trees by cutting 
back and grafting has already been considered 
under the head of propagation. It is often 
desirable to renew trees of a satisfactory 
variety, and this is done simply by cutting 
back when the tree is dormant. Cutting back 
was formerly done early in the winter, before 
the rise of the sap begins, but more recently 
it has been seen that the exposure of large 
cut surfaces for weeks or months before 
growth begins, results in drying and shrink- 
age of the bark and checking of the wood, 
both of which are avoided by amputation later 
in the dormant period or during the early 
part of the growing season. In cutting back, 
of course, those stumps should be left to 
support new branches which will secure the 
best balance and symmetry in the new head. 
When the new growth starts, there generally 
appear many more shoots than are desirable, 
and selection of the best-placed and most 
vigorous should be chosen, the others either 



Hide-bound 



102 



California Fruits 




Pruning the peach tree. 

ir. 2 Second year. 3 Third year. 



being rubbed off in the bud or pinched back 
when a few leaves are put out. In cutting 
back trees, the exposed trunk and branch 
stumps should be wrapped in old sacking, or 
carefully whitewashed as protection from 
sunburn. 

In removing large limbs it is desirable that 
the cut should be made in the right place so 
as to secure quick covering of the scar with 
new growth. Cutting so as to leave a long 
stub results in an unsightly piece of dead 
wood on the tree, and this, in decaying, 
carries the decay deep into the center of the 
trunk or branch. Cutting too close prevents 
covering with the new bark, and also results 
in a hole in the branch. Cutting just to the 
right mark, which is the outer edge of the 
little collar or swelling which will be found 
at the base of all branches, enables the wound 
to grow over quickly, and if the wound is 
properly treated when cut, there will be no 
decay, and the wound will soon be obliterated. 

In amputating large branches, an under- 
cut with the saw should be made first so 
that the bark shall not be torn as the branch 
falls. Another good way is to saw off first 
at a distance from the final cut and then saw 
oft' smoothly at the right place when the 
weight is removed. 

Trees often become "hide-bound," as it is 
called. Especially in this dry climate the 
bark gets dry and tough, therefore can not 
expand in proportion to the growth of the 
tree, or supply the amount of sap necessary 
for the demand. Slitting such trees here 
and there up and down the trunk and main 
limbs with a sharp knife seems to have good 
effect, for often in three months the cut 
opens half an inch, and a fine, clear bark, 
with an increase of growth, results. On old 
trees, too, there is often a growth of moss 
and lichens which should be removed. This 
can be done by scraping off the rough, loose 
bark and spraying with an alkaline wash, 
composed of one pound of caustic soda or 
potash to six gallons of water. If scale in- 
sects are present, the lime, salt and sulphur 
spray should be used, as will be described 
in the chapter on injurious insects. This 
will remove the parasites, give the trees a 
clean, bright bark and contribute to their 
vigor. 



How to Grow Tliem 



103 



Covering Wounds 



PRUNING TOOLS. 
There is some difiference of opinion as to 
the comparative value of the pruning knife 
and the pruning shears. The knife, if sharp, 
and well used, makes a smooth cut, with no 
bruising of the bark, and such a wound 
heals over perfectly. The shears, if of good 
pattern and sharp, also make a very good 
cut, but there is always some little injury to 
the bark on the side opposite to the entry 
of the blade. On small cuts, say three- 
quarters of an inch or less, if the blade is 
kept very sharp, the resistance does not 
make sufficient injury to the bark to seri- 
ously consider, and the speed with which 
the shears can be used renders them the 
main reliance for all the smaller pruning. 
Nearly all styles of hand shears are used in' 
this State. 

There are, also, two-hand shears, which 
are very powerful, and enable one to work 
very quickly. When kept well sharpened 
they are very effective tools. There are a 
number of styles in use, both home-made 
and imported. 

Still another arrangement of shears is 
mounted on a pole, the cutting blade being 
operated by a cord, and having a spring to 
throw the blade back. The pole is jointed, 
so that one or more lengths can be used. 
With this device one can stand on the 
ground and shorten in the top shoots of a 
tree very handily. 

For larger cuts than can be made with the 
pruning knife or one-hand shears, there are 
pruning saws of different styles, of which 
two styles are chiefly used. One has a 
frame made of the best spring steel, con- 
structed somewhat on the plan of a butch- 
er's saw, except that the saw blade is much 
narrower ; and instead of being stationary, 
it revolves so that the pruner is enabled to 
adjust the blade to cut at any angle, as is 
often necessary to do when cutting where 
limbs grow close together, and where it 
would be impossible to use an ordinary saw 
of a wider blade. The blade is only one- 
fourth to one-half inch wide, and therefore 
not liable to get pinched in the cut. 
Strength is imparted by a tension screw 
under the handle, which tightens the blade. 
The blade is easily detached by slackening 
the tension screw, and lifting the blade out 



of the slot in the clutches at each end. The 
blade can be thus reversed and made to cut 
with a push or a pull, as may be desired. 

Another popular saw is the curved pruning 
saw, with twelve and fourteen-inch blades, 
which cuts with a pull. 

During recent years it has been possible 
to find quite full assortments of pruning 
tools at the hardware and general merchan- 
dise stores in all our fruit districts where 
these devices can be compared and selection 
made according to individual preference, for 
there can be no best tools for all men and all 
uses. 

CUTTING TO A BUD. 

Whatever may be used to make the cut, it 
is important to sever the twig or shoot at 
that distance from a wood bud which gives 
that bud the best chance to grow well, and 
at the same time facilitates the healing and 
complete obliteration of the scar. Cutting 
too far from the bud leaves a stub which 
dies back, and is likely to carry decay into 
the pith and thence down into the limb. 
Cutting too close to the bud or carrying the 
slope down too far behind it, does not give 
it enough live wood to carry it, and it makes 
a weak growth. 

Cutting to inside buds with trees of 
spreading habit, and to outside buds with 
upright growers, or to a side bud when lat- 
eral extension is desired, should always be 
remembered as a means of throwing new 
growth in the direction demanded by sym- 
metry and equal occupation of the space al- 
lotted to the tree. This is one respect in 
which study of the habit of the tree sug- 
gests proper practice. 

COVERING WOUNDS. 

Whenever wood is cut with so great di- 
ameter that it will not grow over in one sea- 
son, the wound should be coated with some- 
thing to keep the wood from checking and 
decaying. It has been amply demonstrated 
by California experience that smooth-par- 
ing of the cut made by shears or saw is a 
waste of time. Large wounds should, how- 
ever, be covered to prevent checking of the 
wood and drying back of bark edges. Noth- 
ing is better or cheaper for this covering 
than lead and oil paint, a little thicker than 



Objects in Fruit Thinning 



104 



California Fruits 



for ordinary use, and applied sparingly, so directly profitable outlay which they have 
that it will not run down the bark. to make for orchard maintenance. 



GATHERING UP PRUNINGS. 
Gathering up prunings for burning is tedi- 
ous and expensive, and several efforts have 
been made to substitute machinery for hand 
labor. Anderson's Brush Rake, invented by 
W. C. Anderson, of San Jose, has been used 
to some extent. It readily gathers all kinds 
of tree and vine brush, compresses it con- 
siderably and is easily discharged of its load 
by a slight lift while still going forward. 
It is said to save about one-half the cost of 
hand raking. Brush is often gathered into 
windrows by the use' of horse rakes bor- 
rowed from the hay field. 

Baling Prunings. — There is a fuel value 
in prunings which has become more clear 
since pumping for irrigation is so widely 
practiced, but loose prunings are too expen- 
sive in handling. T. G. Rogers, of Winters, 
has contrived a "brush baler." It is a large 
strong saw horse inverted, to which is bolted 
a long, heavy lever. Attached to a cross 
piece on the lever are four heavy tines bent 
in a semi-circle. The saw horse is filled 
with brush, the lever is then pulled down 
and fastened by a ratchet brake, the brush 
is forced into a small, compact bundle, and 
when bound with wire makes a bundle easily 
handled by the fireman. 

THINNING FRUIT. 

Intimately connected with the pruning of 
bearing trees, is the thinning of the fruit or 
proper spacing of the individual fruits so 
that each shall have space and sap to allow 
its attainment of satisfactory marketable 
size. It has been fully demonstrated that 
no demand is profitable which will be con- 
tent with the undersized fruit from an over- 
laden tree. The superior price for good- 
sized fruit for all uses, not excluding drying, 
is unquestionable ; the total weight secured 
may be variable as between thinned and un- 
thinned trees, but it can be accepted as an 
indisputable fact that any increase of weight 
there may be upon the unthinned tree will 
not be nearly an equivalent for the loss in 
value. It is the conclusion of our largest 
and most successful growers that, large as 
is the expenditure required for careful and 
systematic thinning of fruit, it is the most 



Objects in View in Fruit Thinning. — 
But thinning fruit has objects beyond the 
value of the visible crop which it makes 
profitable.' No overburdened tree can dis- 
charge the twofold summer duty of every 
cultivated fruit-bearing tree which is to per- 
fect this season's fruit and lay a good strong 
foundation for next year's bearing. If the 
tree, after fruit gathering, has not the strong, 
vigorous foliage to complete the formation 
of fruit buds for the following year, there 
will either be a lack of bloom or a show of 
bloom unfit to set, and the tree will work 
for itself next year, and not for yot*, because 
this year you would not work for it. In this 
particular, thinning fruit coincides in pur- 
pose with pruning to limit the amount of 
bearing wood, which has already been con- 
sidered. 

Other objects there also are which are related 
directly to the profit of orcharding and 
should command respect from the most care- 
less. The following is an emphatic state- 
ment of the case :* 

There are at least si.x ways in which growers are 
repaid for thinning peaches, nectarines or apricots 
designed for drying : 

First : You can thin off half the fruit when small 
quicker than you could pick it when large, and 
when mature the time required to fill a basket de- 
pends mainly upon the number of peaches it holds. 

Second: It takes just as long to cut and spread 
on a drying tray a small peach as a large one. It 
takes longer to cut eight peaches that will weigh a 
pound than to cut three and pick off five when they 
are little. 

Third: If peaches run six to the pound the weight 
of pits will not vary much from that of the cured 
fruit. If they run three to the pound, they will 
weigh not much over half. A ton of large peaches 
is as likely to yield 400 pounds of dried as a ton of 
small fruit of the same variety to yield 300 pounds. 
It means a difference of about $8.00 per ton in the 
value of the fresh fruit to the dryer. It will cost 
over $1.00 per ton to thin a heavily laden peach or- 
chard in a way to make that difference. 

Fourth : Granted that you leave fruit to reach the 
same weight at maturity, still 3'ou leave it along the 
body and in places on the limbs where the weight has 
no breaking leverage and take it off the ends where 
it may get sun-burned and is almost sure to break 
the tree. 

Fifth : Vitality drawn from the plant and certain 
elements of fertility from the soil, are in proportion 
to the number of seeds matured. The pulp cuts little 
figure except in aerial substances and water. 



Condensed from F. S. Chapin. 



How to Grow Them 



105 



When to Thin Frnit 



Sixth : Suppose that fruit dried from peaches that 
weigh tliree to the pound only brings one cent a 
pound more than that from peaches half that size. 
Two cents would more accurately measure the dif- 
ference in value. Still, the smaller figure is enough 
to meet the whole cost of pickin.g and hauling or of 
cutting and drying in any well-managed establish- 
ment. 

W'he.v to Thi.n; Fri'it. — Thinning of fruit 
should begin with the winter pruning ol 



or shortening of them with .shears, is feasi- 
ble enough. The objection must lie in the 
fact that profusion of bloom does not neces- 
sarily indicate an execessive set of fruit, and 
any severe reduction of bloom is, therefore, 
\-enturesome unless one is fully assured by 
local experience of the habit of the variety 
under treatment. Reduction of the amount 
of fruit itself is, therefore, the onlv safe 




Ground-view of a good job of apricot-thinning in Santa Clara valley. 



bearing trees, as has been already urged in 
connection with regulating the amount of 
bearing wood allotted to each tree. After 
this is carefully done, there is the thinning 
of bloom, which is urged on the ground of 
least possible loss of energy by the tree in 
the partial development of fruit to be sub- 
sequently removed. Hand-thinning of in- 
dividual blooms is impracticable on a coni- 
merci;i; scale, but removal of spurs or twigs, 



proceeding, and this should not, as a rule, be 
undertaken until the first drop, through lack 
of pollination, has taken place. Even at 
greater theoretical loss of energy to the tree, 
it is better to err on the side of thinning a 
little too late than too early in order to se- 
cure the fullest assurance possible of the 
i)ermanent burden which the tree assumes. 
Where spring frosts are likely to occur they 
afford additional reason for delay. If surety 



Fruits subjet to Increase in Size 



106 



California Fruits : 



of the local conditions comes before the pits 
harden in the young frtiit it is fortunate for 
the tree, but even after that it is still a 
greater saving to the tree and assurance of 
profit to the grower to reduce the fruit to a 
proper amount than to permit overbearing. 

The; Practice of Thinning. — If the tree 
has not been sufficiently relieved of an ex- 
cess of bearing wood during the winter prun- 
ing and has made a very heavy set of fruit, 
thinning with the shears by cutting out 
whole spurs, or short bearing shoots, or 
even shortening in longer limbs, cutting al- 
ways to a lateral when possible, is of no 
appreciable injury to the tree. After all the 
shear-work possible is done, the spacing of 
the fruits on the twigs and branches must 
be provided for. This was done in early 
days by beating the tree with a pole, and 
some still maintain that they can use the 
pole to advantage. The almost universal 
practice, however, is to use the hand in 
plucking or pushing off the small fruit. 
This is done very quickly by experienced 
workmen. If the trees are low, as they 
should be, most of the work can be done 
from the ground. It is best to work in verti- 
cal spaces and take all that can be reached 
from top to bottom without changing posi- 
tion ; then move a step or two and take 
another vertical strip, and so on. 

The distance which should be left between 
specimens depends upon conditions. It is 
as unsatisfactory to thin by rule of inches 
as it is to prune by such a rule. The space 
to each fruit depends upon the kind, the age, 
vigor and strength of the tree, the size and 
thrift of the lateral or spur which carries 
the fruit, the moisture supply, the richness 
of the soil, etc. It also depends upon what 
use is to be made of the fruit, because it is 
possible to have some fruit which is too 
large for certain demands, though this ob- 
jection does not often arise. The strength 
of the shoot is perhaps the most easily ap- 
preciable factor. With peaches, for instance, 
a shortened lateral one-eighth of an inch in 
diameter should only carry one peach, while 
one one-quarter of an inch in diameter might 
mature four good large fruits. It would 
evidently be wrong to work for an arbitrary 
inch-distance on all sorts of shoots, and it 
will be seen to be just as irrational if it be 
applied without regard to the other condi 
tions of the tree. If, however, a rule must 



be had, let it be this, that the distance be- 
tween the fruit shall be two and one-half 
times the diameter desired in the fruit. This 
would fix an arbitrary distance, then, of four 
to six inches for apricots and six to eight 
inches for peaches — with other fruits ac- 
cording to their respective sizes, and the late 
varieties with greater distance than early. 

Any such standard, however, considers 
only the size of the fruit, not the strength 
of the tree, and therefore stops short of one 
of the important ends of thinning, to con- 
serve the strength of the tree for next sea- 
son's fruiting. Fruits might be thus spaced 
and still the tree be overladen, because it 
may be carrying too many bearing shoots. 
Calculate the burden of the tree in this way, 
for instance : Peaches which weigh three to 
the pound are of fair marketable size ; sixty 
such peaches will fill an ordinary peach-box 
of twenty pounds ; ten to twelve such boxes 
is fruit enough for a good bearing tree six 
to ten years of age. Now count the little 
peaches you have left on one main branch 
and its laterals, which ought to be about 
one-tenth of the tree, and thin down to 
about sixty. By doing a few trees in this 
way and thinking of the relation of the bear- 
ing wood to the fruit, one will soon get a 
conception of the proper degree of thinning, 
and proceed to realize it as rapidly as the 
fingers can fly along the branch. 

It is seldom desirable to divide doubles in 
peaches ; pull both off or leave both on, as 
they may be needed or not to make the load 
of the tree. Clusters of apples or pears 
should often be reduced to singles, except 
where size is apt to be too great. 

All kinds of fruits are clearly subject to 
increase of size by thinning, but it is with 
only the larger fruits that the practice pre- 
vails at present. The dividing line seems to 
lie upon the prune. With this fruit thinning 
is only done by pruning the tree for the re- 
duction of the number of bearing branches, 
while with some shipping plums hand thin- 
ning is practiced. Growers are still striving 
for a prune naturally of larger size rather 
than to have recourse to thinning. 

The practice of thinning partially at first, 
trusting to further removal of fruit later if 
too much of it survives the natural drop 
and various accidents, is followed by some 
growers, but the rule is to finish at one oper- 
ation. 



How to Grow Them 



107 



Cultivation 



CHAPTER XIII. 



ADVANTAGES OF INTENSIVE CULTIVATION. 



IT WAS demonstrated very early in Cali- 
fornia experience in fruit growing, that 
"clean culture" is generally the proper treat- 
ment for trees and vines during the dry sea- 
son, at least. Though the frequent stirring 
of the soil and the eradication of grass and 
weeds have been advocated by certain horti- 
culturists for generations and have recently 
been demonstrated to be desirable by careful 
comparative experiments, it has nowhere se- 
cured such wide adherence as in California. 
It may even be held to be an essential to 
successful growth of tree and vine in most 
soils and situations in California, and the 
several advantages of clean culture are in- 
tensified under our conditions. 

Chief of these advantages is the mainte- 
nance of the soil in a condition favoring 
root growth, and the main feature of this 
condition is the retention of the moisture, 
though regulation of summer temperature 
in the soil is also involved. Where mois- 
ture-retention is not the chief concern, be- 
cause of ample irrigation facilities, and the 
moderation of soil temperature is of greater 
moment, a summer-growing cover crop may 
be of benefit to the trees. In irrigated districts 
of excessive heat and dry air this policy may 
prevail, but it will be only the exception to 
the rule of clean culture. 

Ret.mxixi;, ^Ioistuke by Culti\-.\tion. — It 
is a familiar fact that water will rise in a 
tube of exceeding small diameter very much 
higher than the surface of the body of water 
in which the tube is held upright. The 
water rises by capillary attraction. A com- 
pact soil has extending through it, minute 
spaces, formed by the partial contact of its 
particles, which facilitate the rise of water 
from moist layers below, in accordance with 
the same principle which causes the water 
to rise in the capillary tube. This move- 
ment is constantly going on in a firm soil, 
and as fast as the top layer is robbed of its 



moisture by evaporation, the water rises 
from below and it too is evaporated. Dur- 
ing a long, dry summer, the water rises and 
is evaporated from a depth of several feet in 
some soils, and the earth, beneath the bak- 
ing sun heat, becomes "dry as a brick." 

^^'hen a soil is broken up by cultivation, 
capillarity is temporarily destroyed through 
the disturbed layer, because the particles 
are so separated that the mutual connection 
of the minute interspaces no longer exists. 
But if it be roughly broken up, so that the 
disturbed layer takes the form of coarse 
clods, the air has free access to the upper 
surface of the firm soil beneath them, in 
which the capillary condition still exists, 
and evaporation proceeds in the same way, 
though in a somewhat less degree, as if 
there had been no cultivation. It becomes 
evident, then, that the pulverization of the 
disturbed layer must be so complete that 
the particles are separated and capillarity 
destroyed, and, farther, that the free access 
of air to the lower point, where capillaritv 
exists, must be prevented. This is accom- 
plished by the fine loose earth which acts 
as a mulch. \Vhen this is attained, only that 
moisture in the upper surface which comes 
in immediate contact with the air is evap- 
orated, and the balance is retained for the 
use of the plant. Plants growing, then, in 
a well-cultivated soil, have the water in the 
lower soil held for their use, and as fast as 
they use it the supply is replaced through 
the firm soil below, which evaporation being 
stopped, remains moist and permeable by 
roots which extend freely, seeking the nour- 
ishment they need. 

Such is a brief outline of the theory which 
explains the results gained by thorough cul- 
tivation of the soil, so far, at least, as re- 
tention of moisture is foncerned. The prac- 
tical demonstration is easy. Go into a'well- 
cultivated orchard (ir vineyard, push aside 



Moisture Storagfe in the Soil 



108 



California Fruits : 



the soil with the foot, and moisture will be 
found two or three inches from the surface, 
or even less in some soils, while on unculti- 
vated land adjacent, digging to the depth of 
several feet will show nothing but hard 
earth, baked and arid. In such hard-baked 
earth, moreover, the sun heat is conveyed 
or conducted downward very rapidly during 
a hot day, so that in some cases the roots 
are seriously injured. When the surface is 
well tilled, it will act like a blanket, prevent- 
ing a too rapid conveyance of heat down- 
ward, and thus also diminishing the intensity 
of evaporation. 

Accurate demonstration of these facts has 
recently been secured as the result of many 
moisture determinations in cultivated and 
uncultivated soil by the University of Cali- 
California Agricultural Experment Station.* 
Very striking exhibition of the condition of 
trees with and without cultivation is found 
in the engravings which are reproduced 
herewith. Upon the demonstration, the 
practice in the uncultivated orchard was 
radically changed. The exact determination 
of moisture present at various depths of the 
soil beneath these contrasted orchards in the 
month of July is as follows : 





Cultivated 


Uncultivated 


Depth in 
soil 


Per cent 


Tons per 


Per cent. 


Tons per 


First foot 


6.4 


128 


43 


86 


Second foot . . . 


5.8 


116 


4,4 


88 


Third foot 


6,4 


128 


3 9 


78 


Fourth foot. . . 


6 5 


130 


5.1 


102 


Fifth foot 


6.7 


134 


3.4 


68 


Sixth foot 


60 


120 


4,5 


90 



Totals, six feet, 6.3 756 4.2 512 

This shows a gain of nearly fifty per cent 
of soil moisture by cultivation. 

Nkcessity of Adeou.vte Cui^tivation. — It 
has been very fully demonstrated by Cali- 
fornia experience that adequate depth of 
tilth must be attained. The depth of culti- 
vation, or the thickness of the dust-mulch, 
as some like to call it, must be sufficient to 
prevent the access of the dry air to the firm 
soil below. At the East, where they have 
a moister air, a thin mulch may answer ; 
but in California, with a thirsty air for such 
a protracted period, "there must be deeper 



tilth. Two or three inches of dust spread 
over a hard-pan layer, formed in some soils 
by cultivation, will not retain moisture well 
in California. The cultivator should go 
twice that depth, ordinarily, and then the 
result will be accomplished if it is done fre- 
quently enough to prevent the re-firming 
of the surface by atmospheric moisture or 
by the rise of moisture from below. The 
exact significance of depth in the loose, sur- 
face layer has also been demonstrated by 
moisture determination in the subsoil at dif- 
ferent points by the California Experiment 
Station, as follows : 



Percentage of moisture in cultivated loam soil. 



Depth 

Three inches. 
.Six inches. . . . 



Niles S 


ianta Maria 


I Ventura 


5.4 


5.3 


8 3 


6 3 


8 5 


9.3 



Bulletin 121. 



These may be accepted, probably, as aver- 
age results : Variation may occur in soils 
of different characters. The capillarity in 
a heavy soil is vastly greater than in a light 
soil. The difficulty of securing a pulverized 
surface layer is also greater in the heavy 
soil. The poorer the pulverization, the 
deeper the layer must be. Naturally, then, 
growers' practice will vary. The rule will 
remain that there must be depth enough to 
secure effective protection of the firm soil 
beneath from agencies promoting evapor- 
ation. 

Loss OF Moisture by Weed Growth. — 
One of the most active agencies for the ex- 
haustion of moisture from the subsoil is the 
growth of weeds. To cultivate the soil in 
winter and spring, and then to allow a' sum- 
mer growth of weeds to "shade the soil" is 
a great error. Although under the cover of 
rank weeds moisture may appear even at 
the surface and convey the impression of 
moisture-saving, the fact is, as fully demon- 
strated by experience and accurate experi- 
ment, the moisture in the lower layers of 
the soil is reduced and trees are thus robbed 
of their supply. Weed growth must be res- 
olutely suppressed during the dry season. 

Moisture Stor.-\ge in the Soil. — Con- 
servation of moisture in the soil is not only 
the surety of the current season's growth 



How to Grow Them 



109 



Growing Crops between Trees 



and fruitfulness, but is the safeguard against 
injury from the years of deficient rainfall 
which occur now and then in California. 
The moisture supply is equalized by this 
storage in the soil, and a surplus from the 
liberal rainfall of one year is held over to 
supply the lack of the next. Of course, the 
well-cultivated surface is also well calculated 
to catch the water. While from a hard sur- 
face much of a heavy rainfall flows oiif quick- 
ly to a lower level before it can penetrate, 
a loose soil, if sufficiently deep, retains all 
that falls upon it, except the excess, which 
disappears by drainage. 

It has sometimes been held by California 
orchardists that planting some tall-growing 
crop, like corn, so as to shade the young tree 
and the ground around it, is an advantage. 
This is a great mistake. Though some rich, 
moist soils may afford moisture enough to 
grow both the tree and the corn, is is a fact 
that in most cases the growth of the corn is 
made at the expense of the tree, and some- 
times almost costs its life and thrift. It has 
been amply shown by investigation that 
though shading ground by a leafy growth 
may make the surface layer of the soil 
moister. the lower layers are invariably 
made drier, and it is in these lower layers 
that the tree seeks its sustenance. The 
young tree should be shaded as has been de- 
scribed in the chapter on planting, and not 
by a growing plant. 

GROWING CROPS BETWEEN TREES 
AND VINES. 

The possible advantage of a cover growth 
of clover in regions of high heat and ample 
moisture has been noted at the opening of 
this chapter. The rule, however, must be : 
Grow nothing whatever between the trees 
if you desire the full success of the latter. 
As with all rules, this one may admit of ex- 
ceptions. 

Inter-cultures in orchard or vineyard may 
be allowed under certain conditions of the 
soil and the purse of the grower. If the soil 
is deep and moist and rich, the cost of plant- 
ing and cultivation, and sometimes more 
may be made by growing a crop among 
young trees. Of course, if irrigation is avail- 
able, much more can be done in this direc- 
tion than if dependent upon natural supplies 
of water. 



There is much dift'erence as to crops in 
amount of injury they may do the trees. 
Growing alfalfa, without irrigation, has been 
known to kill out an orchard. Grain is less 
dangerous, but still is objectionable, both be- 
cause of exhaustion of soil and moisture, 
and because of danger to trees from heat de- 
flected from straw and stubble. The crops 
least injurious, because of their require- 
ments, and because of the constant cultiva- 
tion of them checks the loss of moisture 
by evaporation, are corn, beans, potatoes, 
beets, carrots, etc., squashes, and other mem- 
bers of the melon family, onions, and other 
shallow-rooting vegetables. In the growth 
of these, however, there should be a width 
of several feet of well-cultured soil on all 
sides of the tree, unoccupied. 

In soils exceptionally rich and deep, and 
where rainfall is abundant, inter-cultures of 
small fruits or vegetables may be carried on 
for a long series of years with profit both 
from the trees and the inter-culture. In 
similar deep, rich soils, with irrigation, im- 
mense crops of small fruits and vegetables, 
even as high as twelve to twenty-four tons 
of tomatoes per acre have been taken from 
between orchard rows, and one hundred and 
fifty sacks of onions per acre from between 
the rows in a strawberry plantation. In 
\'entura County some fields of lima beans, 
in favorable years, have paid over $70 per 
acre — grown between young trees. In other 
parts of the State considerable amounts of 
peas for sale to canners are grown between 
the rows in young orchards. This crop is 
especially desirable when good sale is as- 
sured, because the plant is hardy and can 
make a good part of its growth during the 
rainy season and the ground be cleaned up 
and well cultivated early in the summer. 
As beans and peas are legumes, their roots 
enrich the soil, as will be noted in the chap- 
ter on fertilization. 

How Exhaustion by Inter-Culture M.w 
Be Avoided. — But all inter-cultures are a 
loan made by the trees to the orchardist. 
The term may be very long and the rate of 
interest verj- small in some cases, but sooner 
or later the trees will need restitution to the 
soil of the plant food removed by inter-crop- 
ping. This may be accomplished by the use 
of fertilizers. Still the rule that the trees 
or vines should have all the ground is gen- 



Plowing- Orchards 



110 



California Fruits 



erally true. It is also true that on merely 
ordinary soils, trusting to rainfall, or on 
shallow soils, trusting in part to irrigation, 
die trees or vines should have the full 
strength of the land and all the help which 
can be given them in the shape of thorough 
cultivation. 

METHODS OF CULTIVATION. 

In general terms the main objects of culti- 
vation of orchard and vineyard are two: Win- 
ter cultivation for moisture reception, and 
summer cultivation for moisture retention. 

Wherever early winter plowing can be 
done without too great danger of soil wash- 
ing, it afTords the best available means ot 
admitting water to the great reservoir in the 
lower levels of a deep soil. Too frequently 
large volumes of rain water, enriched by 
air-washing as it falls and by fine soil-parti- 
cles as it flows, are allowed to run ofif into 
the country drainage, with the double loss 
of fertility and moisture to the fruit grower. 
Deep penetration of winter rains should be, 
in all safe ways, promoted. Cultivation for 
retention has already been strongly urged 
and is quite generally recognized. 

To serve these main purposes there are 
two main divisions of practice in this State, 
^ach of which has variations of greater or 
less importance. 

First : W'inter plowing followed by fre- 
quent use of cultivator and pulverizer in 
summer. 

Second : Use of cultivator at intervals 
both winter and summer, following, if 
needed, with pulverizer in the summer. 

The main features of each division of prac- 
tice, and some of the claims by which each 
method is supported by its advocates, will be 
noted. 

Plowing Orchard .\nd Vineyard. — There 
is considerable variation in the practice of 
plowing orchard and vineyard, in the kinds 
of plows employed, and the times chosen 
for the work. Some plow but once, toward 
spring, whenever the ground is in suitable 
condition ; and, if there is much growth of 
weeds and clpvers, a looped chain is run 
from the plow to the end of the evener to 
aid in drawing under the tall growth. Some- 
times, however, the growth gets so fank be- 
fore the soil is in condition to plow that the 



weeds are mown before plowing. Where 
but one plowing is done, the soil is usually 
thrown away from the trees and afterwards 
is leveled back by harrowing or cultivating. 
If this practice is adopted, care should be 
taken that the soil is properly returned about 
the tree roots, for injury is sometimes done 
by bringing the roots too near the surface, 
which is soon afterward intensely heated by 
the sunshine. 

It is undoubtedly better practice to plow 
earlier, when the green stufif gets a good 
start, but is still not too high to turn under 
handily. In this practice the weed stems are 
less woody, and they easily decay and act as 
a fertilizer. Where early plowing is prac- 
tised, it is usual to plow again when the 
second growth of weeds reaches the proper 
state in the spring. When two plowings 
are given, the earth is usually thrown away 
from the trees in the first plowing, and re- 
turned toward the trees in the second plow- 
ing. But this order is sometimes reversed 
in situations where rainfall is heavy and the 
soil retentive, for the dead furrow between 
the rows often acts as a surface drain to 
carry oiif surplus water, which is thus pre- 
vented from standing around the tree roots. 
In all modes of plowing it is desirable that 
before the summer heat comes, the surface 
be leveled as completely as possible. 

Too much stress can not be laid upon the 
importance of plowing when the soil is in 
good condition and not otherwise. To dis- 
regard this is bad enough in all soils, but it 
is a grievous mistake to work any of the 
clayey soils when they are out of condition. 
If too wet, they are puddled by the plow 
and dry down in hard clods, impenetrable 
by air, and even resist water itself for a long 
time. When clods are thus formed, it may 
require long eftort to bring the soil back 
to a good friable condition. The cultivation 
of adobe is one of the problems of California 
agriculture. The more refractory it is, the 
more particular care is needed to take it 
when it is in proper condition to work. To 
work it when perfectly dry is simply impos- 
sible, and if it is plowed when too wet and 
and sticky, it becomes hard, lumpy, and 
altogether unmanageable. The condition 
which favors best results by tillage must be 
learned by experience. 

Another mistake, apt to be made where 
the orchard or vineyard is but one of the 



How to Grow Them 



111 



Avoiding Injury to Trees 



branches of a mixed farm, is to put aside 
the plowing until all the field work is done, 
and in some seasons the soil in the orchard 
has become so dry that it turns up in large 
clods, which are afterwards partially reduced 
by the harrow, but never put in the fine tilth 
which should be secured for the retention 
of moisture and otherwise to encourage the 
growth and productiveness of the trees. 

Breakixt, up Hard-pax. — Those who ad- 
vocate the use of the plow, claim several ad- 
vantages for it. The chief is that more 
thorough tilth can be secured. In most, but 
not all soils, there is formed by cultivation 
an artificial hard-pan at whatever depth the 
implement attains, if this depth be kept the 
same for many successive cultivations. 
This hard-pan, in some soils at least, be- 
comes impervious to water and is otherwise 
an injury to the growth of the trees. It 
occurs in irrigated and unirrigated land alike, 
but probably is more quickly formed by irri- 
gation. When continuous summer cultiva- 
tion is practiced, the hard-pan will be found 
at whatever depth the teeth uniformly reach. 
The remedy is to plow in winter just below 
this hard-pan layer and thus break it up, and 
then by the action of the air and rains it is 
reduced, and cultivation may proceed as be- 
fore. Where the hard-pan is formed by the 
plow, the ground should be plowed shallow 
one vear and deeply the next, thus alternat- 
ing from year to year. 

Greex Maxurixg. — Another advantage in 
the use of the plow is, as has already been 
mentioned, the turning under of the growth 
oi weeds, grass, and clover as a green ma- 
nure. Many growers attach considerable 
importance to this, and some, who have or- 
chards in which winter growth has been killed 
out by long cultivation, are seeking for a c|uick- 
Iv-growing crop which they can sow with 
the first rains and secure growth enough to 
turn under with the winter plowing. This 
consideration will be farther presented in the 
chapter on fertilization. 

Plowinc, Hillside to Pren'Ent Washing. 
— Where the slope of the land is sharp, there 
is much danger from washing during the 
rainy season, if the hillside is not terraced or 
furnished with ditches carefully laid out on 
contour lines to carry the water down on a 
gentle grade. The old ])Ian of plowing fur- 



rows one above another around the hill to 
check the flow and let the water down easily, 
is often found treacherous unless one is able 
to strike good grades, because of the liability 
to collection of water at certain points and 
the subsequent breaking away and washing. 
Recently some of the foot-hill growers have 
adopted the plan of plowing furrows seven 
or eight feet apart straight down the hill in 
the direction of its deepest descent. The 
rainfall is thus distributed over the ground 
so that not much water is collected in any 
one place and the harm done by washing 
will not amount to much. Hillside work dif- 
fers according to character of soil and of 
local rainfall and conference with experi- 
enced men in the region will usually afford 
the beginner the best suggestions of method. 
In some localities, the plowing of a few fur- 
rows at intervals to assist in penetration 
and the growth of a cover crop during the 
winter to assist in binding the soil, will be 
found better than any attempt at the early 
plowing, which may work admirably on level 
lands. 

The Best Plow. — For plowing orchards 
and vineyards many kinds of plows are used, 
including the ordinary one and two-horse 
walking plows, single and double sulky or 
riding plows, and gang plows of different 
kinds. Recently disk plows and harrows 
have become very popular. In several of the 
leading fruit districts there are plows made 
in the local shops which are patterned to 
meet the different soils prevailing. Which 
is the best plow is a question which can not 
be answered, it must be determined by local 
conditions, and the best way to get informa- 
tion is to consult the experienced cultivators 
of the locality. 

Avoiding Injury to Trees and Vines. — 
The great problem is to use the plow so as 
not to injure the trees and vines. Injury to 
the roots is one ground on which those who 
advocate the banishment of the plow from 
orchard and vineyard base their opposition, 
as will appear more fully presently. It is 
the usual practice to run the plow shallower 
when approaching the stem of the tree or 
vine, and this is easily done when using a 
riding plow or a two-horse walking plow be- 
tween the rows and finishing up near the 
trees with a single-horse walking plow, 
which is a common practice. The injury by 



Summer Treatment 



112 



California Fruits 



the plow to which especial reference is now 
made, is that to the bark of the tree or to the 
vine stump. 

Makers of the special orchard and vine- 
yard plows have recently made them ad- 
justable so that the plow will work either 
side of the central line of draft, and these im- 
proved tools have rendered obsolete the early 
contrivances for accomplishing the result 
with common field plows. 

Fi..\T HamES and a Spreader. — Among 
the worst things for use among trees are the 
pointed iron hames which are found on most 
harnesses. They often seriously bark the 
branches under which the horse passes, and 
should be dispensed with. An arrangement 
used in San Bernardino County consists in 
having broad leather tugs and hames with 
only one long iron loop on the swell of the 
hame. The tug is passed around the hame 
and the end is brought through the iron loop 
from the under side, so that the draft will 
hold the tug tight between the collar and 
the hame and the end between the iron sta- 
ple and the pulling part of the trace. A 
spreader is put between the tugs ; it is made 
of a hard-wood stick sixteen to eighteen 
inches long; a hole is bored in each end large 
enough for a two-inch screw, a hole punched 
in each trace about twelve inches from the 
rear erid, and the tugs are screwed to the 
ends of the spreader, and the ends of the 
tugs attached to the plow clevis. This gives 
no iron or wooden surfaces at all, either on 
harness or whififletree, to strike the bark. 

Improved SingeETREes. — Later than these 
came the orchard and vineyard singletrees, 
invented and patented by Californians, which 
are widely used and sold in all stores in the 
fruit growing districts. 

Dispensing with Doubtletrees. — Still 
other inventions which admit the use of two 
horses even close up to the trees, because 
they dispense entirely with whiffletrees and 
tugs, are known as the steel harness. East- 
ern inventions, which have secured the ap- 
proval of some of our leading growers for 
use in orchard and vineyard. The plow is 
attached to the steel yoke by a chain run- 
ning between the horses. With them it is 
possible to work quite close to the trees and 
vines, and is especially desirable in the vine- 
yard in working close to the vines when they 



have grown out about two feet, which is a 
difficult job with the old-style harness. 

SUMMER TREATMENT OF PLOWED 
ORCHARD AND VINEYARD. 

Where the orchard or vineyard is plowed 
twice during the winter, the land should re- 
main after the first plowing as the plow 
leaves it. The moistening and aeration dur- 
ing the winter have a good eflect upon the 
soil both chemically and mechanically. 

If but one plowing is done, when the chief 
rains are supposed to be over, there must be 
full eflfort put forth to reduce the soil to 
good tilth, and to level the surface as much 
as possible. This is done by harrowing with 
one of the several improved harrows which 
are now generally introduced and found very 
eiifective. They act in cultivating, clod 
crushing, and leveling, in a most satisfactory 
manner. They are too well known to need 
description. Each has its advocates and its 
adaptations to certain soils. As with plows, 
so with harrows and cultivators, the best for 
one soil may not be the best for another, and 
local inquiry among experienced fruit grow- 
ers will be the best guide for the newcomer. 
In addition to the excellent implements 
brought from the eastern States, there are 
others of California invention and manufac- 
ture which have very marked local adapta- 
tions, and almost every fruit region in Cali- 
fornia has some embodiment of local inven- 
tive genius in the form of implements of till- 
age. 

The secret of success in handling the heav- 
ier soils in spring working is to secure as 
perfect surface pulverization as possible 
without compacting the soil. Light soils 
need a certain amount of firming after plow- 
ing, or else there is too free access of air and 
too great drying out. For these and other 
reasons, the grower has to study Ijis soil and 
learn from observation the methods which 
succeed best with it. The practice which gave 
success under certain conditions might not be 
well adapted under other conditions. The 
use of the roller is a striking example of this 
fact. In some orchards the roller is a bene- 
fit, in others a decided injury. Its chief 
efifect is compacting the surface layer, which 
is only desirable on very coarse open soils. 
The long-tooth harrow accomplishes a very 
marked compacting of the soil to the depth 



How to Grow Them 



113 



Summer Cultivation 



it reaches and often settles the lower laj-er 
too closely and causes it to run together too 
solidly if rain follows. The modern cultiva- 
tors, clod-crushers, disk-harrows, etc., are su- 
perior in effect, each in the soil to which its 
action is most desirable. 

After working down the soil after plow- 
ing, the cultivator is relied upon to kill the 
weeds, break up the crust which may form 
after spring rains or after irrigation, and to 
prevent the compacting of the surface layer 
of the soil from any causes. 

CULTIVATION WITHOUT PLOWING. 
There are orchards in California which 
liave not been plowed for years — in some 
cases the plow has not been used since the 
trees were planted. Instances of this kind 
are to be found both in irrigated and unirri- 
gated land. It depends largely upon the 
mechanical condition and disposition of the 
soil whether the practice will give satisfac- 
tory results. It can not be trusted on land 
prone to develop hard-pan, as has already 
been considered, and yet the term "cultiva- 
tion" has taken such a wide range in this 
State, and the tools have reached such effi- 
ciency, that there is not as much difference as 
formerly between the plow and the cultiva- 
tor, except that the former turns the soil and 
the latter stirs without turning. For some 
who oppose the use of the plow, use a 
chisel-tooth cultivator, cutting to a depth of 
eight inches in the spring, but at other times 
of the year they are not more than half as 
deep. This treatment would tend to dispose 
of hard-pan. However this may be, and 
what the special nature of their soils, there 
are fruit growers, both in northern and 
southern California, who have for years 
trusted almost wholly to the cultivator, cut- 
ting to a depth of three or four inches, and 
keep their orchards throughout the year al- 
most in the same state of tilth, never allow- 
ing a weed to grow. This practice is, how- 
ever, becoming less prevalent, and for cer- 
tain soils the question is practically settled 
in the minds of nearly all orchardists, while 
for other soils there is still doubt. For the 
heavier soils, which continuous shallow cul- 
tivation is apt to render too compact, it is 
necessary to have recourse to the plow to 
open the land for proper aeration and pene- 
tration of moisture which otherwise would 
be largely lost by surface run-off. The 



lighter soils do not require this and they 
seem to do well with continuous use of the 
cultivator. It is beginning to be clearly 
seen, however, that this treatment tends to- 
ward the decrease of the humus and the con- 
sequent impoverishment of the soil. Its 
water-holding capacity is also lessened. 
These facts have induced some growers to 
change their practice and take up the plow 
during late winter or early spring to cover 
in the growth of green stuff' which they al- 
low to grow instead of frequently destroy- 
ing it with the winter use of the cultivator. 
Either the fall and spring plowing, or both, 
followed by the summer use of the cultiva- 
tor, is the most rational and satisfactory 
practice for most of our deciduous orchards, 
though there are local conditions and cir- 
cumstances under which different procedure 
is preferable. 

SUMMER CULTIVATION. 

Whatever the winter policy may be, the 
essential point in summer cultivation is to 
preserve the surface layer of pulverised 
earth. It will not do to have a few inches of 
clods, from the size of a pea to that of a 
goose egg, resting on a hard surface. The 
finer the pulverization the shallower can be 
the surface layer, and vice versa, and this is 
probably one reason why in practice the 
work of the plow is, in so many situations, 
found the best foundation upon which to 
rest the years' cultivation. 

In order to secure this finely-pulverized 
layer, it is sometimes necessary to use what 
is called a "rubber," where there are many 
clods which are merely displaced by the har- 
row or cultivator. There are different styles, 
and they are generally home-made. The 
most common form is made of two-inch 
plank in lengths of three or four feet, bolted 
or spiked to pieces of four-by-four-inch 
scantling running crosswise, the edges of 
the planks lapped like the clapboards which 
are used for weather boarding. As these 
edges are drawn over the surface, the clods 
are rubbed into tiltli if they are not too hard 
and dry. 

But this rubbing may be very undesirable 
if it leaves the surface smooth and polished. 
It may reflect the sunheat even to tree-burn- 
ing, and is apt to form an evaporating sur- 
face, which is most to be avoided. The best 
finish for the land is that produced by a 



Miilchingf a Substitute 



114 



California Fruits : 



light, fine-tooth harrow, and an attachment 
of this kind is provided with various clod 
crushers and cultivators. The result is a 
surface of loose earth, flat and fine, which 
approaches very closely an ideal condition. 
There is less difference than formerly in 
the use of the harrow or cultivator during 
the summer. Still some are content to use 
the cultivator only as a weed-killer, and after 
the weeds cease to grow and the spring 
showers are over, the cultivator is laid aside 
and the land is left unstirred until the fol- 
lowing winter. This, of course, refers to 
unirrigated ground, for wherever irrigation 
is practiced, a cultivator must follow, except 
on hillsides where the surface is left undis- 
turbed after the irrigation furrows are made 
at the beginning of the dry season. It is a 
fact, however, that even if no rain falls, the 
soil becomes compacted to a certain degree, 
and the best way to imprison the greatest 
possible amount of moisture below is to run 
the cultivator at intervals all through the dry 
season. It should run shallow and only stir 
the surface layer. The experience of the 
most successful growers is that frequent 
stirring without, however, bringing new soil 
to the air, is the best-paying practice. 

WHAT IS THOROUGH CULTIVATION. 

As clean, thorough cultivation has been 
approved, it may be desirable to attempt to 
define the term. It can, however, only be 
approximately done, because of the great 
difference in individual views and practices. 
Some indication of the operations which are 
contemplated may be had in the following 
specifications upon which contracts have 
been let for care of orchard : First, plowing 
away from the trees, followed by harrow- 
ing; second, plowing toward the trees, fol- 
lowed by harrowing; ten summer workings 
with cultivator ; three workings with shal- 
low cultivator or weed-cutter ; five hand hoe- 
ings around the trees. The contract intends 
the most complete and perfect working of the 
soil and specifies the above merely that there 
may be no dift'erence of opinion between 
owner and contractor. 

In cases where the land is infected with 
morning-glory, weekly cultivation is stipula- 
ted for in some cases, and this seems about 
the only way to cope with this formidable 
trespasser. 



CULTIVATION FOR WEED KILLING. 
Cultivation for weed killing is a minor 
consideration in California, because cultiva- 
tion for moisture conservation effectually 
disposes of most of them, and weeds do not 
start readily in the earth-mulch during the 
dry season. There are, however, a few most 
persistent pests which require heroic meas- 
ures. Johnson grass and morning-glory are 
the most prominent of these. The only suc- 
cessful treatment consists in cutting con- 
stantly with a weed cutter (a sharp horizon- 
tal knife), operated so as to pass under the 
whole surface and run so often that the plant 
is never allowed to show a shoot on the sur- 
face. It is of no use merely to cultivate or 
"weed-cut" as for other weeds. This spreads 
the pest more and more ; but if the rising 
shoots are continually cut under the surface, 
and never allowed to get the light, it will kill 
the plant surely, but it may take two seasons 
to do it. Weed-cutting knives of this des- 
cription are usually contrived by local smiths 
and are attached to sleds or fitted with plow- 
handles, or used with a pair of thills and 
cultivator-handles, or other rigging as the 
operator may choose. The vital point is a 
blade of sheet steel, very sharp, and rigged to 
run just under the surface. It must be used 
as often as once each week. 

MULCHING A SUBSTITUTE FOR CUL- 
TIVATION. 

The use of a mulch or covering of the 
ground with a litter of light materials to 
prevent evaporation, is practised to a small 
extent in this State. Though mainly used for 
berries of different kinds, recourse has also 
been had to mulching by vineyardists. The 
materials used are various, such as partly- 
rotted straw, coarse manure, damaged hay, 
corn-husks, corn-stalks, vine prunings and 
leaves, and even fine brush from adjacent 
thickets. The practise has been found of 
greatest value on hillsides where cultivation 
is difficult, and danger of washing of loose 
soil is great. There are cases where vines 
have been grown several years in this way 
to the satisfaction of the owner. The danger 
of fire in our dry climate when the surface is 
covered to a depth of several inches with a 
dry mulch is considerable. As a rule, the 
mulch employed by the California grower is 
a perfect pulverization of the surface soil. 



How to Grow Them 



115 



Fertilizers for Trees and Vines 



CHAPTER XIV. 



FERTILIZERS FOR FRUIT TREES AND VINES. 



IT WAS a popular doctrine among early 
Californians that California soils would 
never need fertilization, and that there is some- 
thing in our soil and climate which releases us 
forever from repaying anything to the ground 
for the wealth of produce which we take 
from it. Such a view is, of course, without 
foundation, and yet it is not difficult to see 
how it arose. Early attempts to enrich the 
soil by the turning under of coarse stable 
manure, as is done in other countries, was 
undertaken here on light soil in a region 
rather short of rainfall. The manure did not 
decompose, and its course materials made a 
soil, already too light to retain moisture well, 
so open and porous that its moisture was 
quickly carried away by evaporation, and 
crops did not grow so well as upon adjacent 
land which had not been manured. So the 
fiat went forth against manure. The corrals* 
became undisturbed guano deposits, and man- 
ure piles were fired in dry weather to get the 
soil poison out of the way. Innumerable tons 
of bones were gathered and ground in San 
Francisco and shipped away to countries 
which need fertilizers. Nature did much to 
foster the popular delusion, for field crops 
were gloriously large, and trees and vines 
grew rampantly and bore fruit the weight of 
which they were unable to sustain. How 
could there be more conclusive evidence that 
manure was a detriment to California soils? 
A few decades of experience have swept 
away such fallacies and now California grow- 
ers, especially those handling citrus fruits, 
are not only freely investing in commercial 
fertilizers but are buying and shipping con- 
siderable distances all available animal ma- 
nures. They are also untiring students of the 
art of fertilization and the sciences underly- 
ing it. It was in response to their demand 
that the California Legislature of 1903 passed 



■ Inclosures for live stock of an\- kind. 



a fertilizer control law giving the University 
Agricultural Experiment Station regulation 
of the trade in fertilizing materials. All 
dealers are required to register and submit 
samples of their brands and there is constant 
inspection to detect departures. Semi-annual 
reports are published for public information 
and these, with special instructions for taking 
samples when purchasers desire analyses on 
their own account, can be had by application 
to the Experiment Station at Berkeley. The 
total amount of sales reported under the law 
for the year ending June 30, 1907, was 21,- 
647 tons. 

It is foreign to our purpose to discuss the 
general subject of the use of fertilizers in 
California, and the changes in belief and 
practise which have recently gained ground. 
Of course, the marked falling off in the yield 
of shallow-rooting cereals gave the first un- 
mistakable intimation that there was some- 
thing wrong about the old theory of the per- 
petual youth of California soils. The lands 
used for fruit are sometimes slow to show 
exhaustion, because trees are deep feeders, 
and the soils, as they are often the very best 
and deepest of the State, selected for fruit 
because of that very character, possess, in an 
eminent degree, lasting properties, as is 
shown in the chapter on the fruit soils of 
California. But certain of these soils are 
already showing the need of refreshment, 
and intelligent growers are quick to minister 
to the lands which are giving them such 
generous returns, as thcv can well afford to 
do. 



WHEX IS FERTILIZATION 
NECESS.\RY? 

Though the use of fertilizers by our fruit 
growers is l^eginning, it should be plainly 
stated that at present, except perhaps with 



What Fertilizers to apply 



116 



California Fruits : 



citrus fruit trees, or the oldest orchards of 
other fruits, it is not yet the rule that such 
appHcations are necessary. There are some 
soils which are really too rich for fruit. 
There is sometimes an overrank growth of 
wood, which delays or prevents the formation 
of fruit buds, and there is a marvelous de- 
velopment of fruit which is inconsistent with 
the highest quality. For this reason the 
grower should not conclude, from the fore- 
going general remarks concerning the need 
of fertilization in California, that he must 
manure his soil whether it needs it or not. 
Especially is this the case with young trees, 
in which the wood growth is easily over- 
stimulated. As with irrigation, so in fertili- 
zation ; the tree or vine itself will give the 
observing grower hints as to its needs, and 
if the growth of wood and color of foliage 
are such as obviously indicate health and 
vigor, it may be concluded that the plant 
needs nothing but good cultivation and in- 
telligent pruning. 

Usually cases of overrich ground will cure 
themselves as the trees attain size and full 
bearing, and it is then that fertilization may 
be necessary. When the tree or vine which 
has been properly pruned and cultivated is 
not able to mature a good weight of well-de- 
veloped fruit, and make a satisfactory wood 
growth, usually at the same time showing 
some degree of distress by the color of its 
foliage, it needs help; and if the grower 
is sure that the trouble is not from lack of 
moisture in the soil, he should bestir himself 
in the manuring of his orchard or vineyard. 
In examining the soil for moisture, one 
should dig deeply, for there have been cases 
of moisture near the surface, and drouth 
below. 

WHAT FERTILIZERS TO APPLY TO 
FRUIT TREES AND VINES. 
A discussion of this subject from a chem- 
ist's point of view is beyond the scope of 
this volume. The results of research at the 
University Experiment Station at Berkeley 
are summarized in. the treatise on soils by 
Dr. E. W. Hilgard, who maintains the posi- 
tion that the most intelligent and- economical 
choice of fertilizers is to be made after as- 
certaining by analysis in what constituents 
the soil is deficient and in what it is well 
supplied. Some applications made in con- 



formity with suggestions based upon analysis 
have proved very satisfactory. But as soils 
vary within narrow limits of area, there must 
be analysis for each soil in question. 

Approaching the matter of choosing fertili- 
zers without soil analysis, the method by 
local trial is open. In this recourse there is. 
danger of error, as pointed out by Dr. Hil- 
gard, arising from local differences in soil 
and subsoil, and must be checked by several 
check plots so interposed between the others 
as to not only check them by direct compari- 
son, and to prevent the washing of fertili- 
zers from one fertilized plot to another, but 
they must also be compared, first of all,, 
among themselves, to determine what is the 
normal product of the unfertilized land. It 
will frequently be found that these unferti- 
lized check plots differ more widely betweert 
themselves than do the fertilized ones from 
them or from each other. It usually takes 
several seasons to come to definite results. 

From these statements it must appear that 
the prescription of fertilizers is not an easy 
matter. Disappointments will naturally be 
encountered, but unquestionably the advan- 
tage is on the side of patient trial and wise 
investment in fertilizers honestly made and' 
honestly sold. The observing grower must 
learn all that he can from experience. The 
University of California at its Citrus Experi- 
ment Station at Riverside began in 1907 a se- 
ries of experiments in the course of which- 
trees, specially planted in plots guarded from 
interference, will be grown on various diets, 
in order that close comparisons may be made, 
from which it is expected that important con- 
clusions in plant nutrition can be drawn. It 
is obviously the duty of the grower to con- 
stantly study fertilizer questions as presented' 
in books and journals and to be alert for ob- 
servation of the behavior of his own trees 
with the applications he may make. The 
publications of responsible fertilizer manu- 
facturers and dealers, also convey important 
information when read discriminatingly. 

Though the deficiencies of the soil,, as 
learned by analysis, or by practical test, must 
he the basis of prescription of fertilizers, the 
analyses of fruits, as showing the special 
needs of the plants, are of the highest im- 
portance. The following analyses of the dif- 
ferent fruits, containing, in each case, skin,, 
pulp and seeds, are almost entirely from Cali- 



How to Grow Them 



117 



Potash 



fornia-grown specimens, and are supposed 
to represent an average composition of the 
fruits named. 



HoME-M.\DE Bone Manures. — Much good 
bone manure can be made by collecting bones, 
heads, horns, feet, etc., from butchers' shops 



Quantities of soil ingredients withdrawn by various fruits. 
Compiled from analyses by G. E. Colby. University of California. 



FRESH 

1.000 I 

Almonds f . . 
Apricots. . . . 
Apples 


FRUIT. 
Munds. 


Total ash. 
Pounds. 

17.29 
5.08 
2.64 

10.78 


Potash. 

Pounds. 

9.95 
3.01 
1 40 

6 80 

2.77 

3.67 

4.69 

2.55 

2.54 

9.11 

2.11 

3.94* 

1.34 

3.10 

341* 

8.18 


Lime. 
Pounds. 

1.04 
.16 
.11 
.10 
.20 

1.20 
.85 
.25 

1.55 

2.43 
.97 
.14* 
.19 
.22 
.25* 

1 55 


Phosphoric 

Acid. 

Pounds. 

2.04 
66 
.33 
.17 
.72 

1.58 
.86 
.11 
.58 

1.25 
.53 
.85* 
.34 
.68 
.75* 

1.47 


Nitrogen. 
Pounds. 

7.01 

1.94 

1.05 

.97 


Cherries 

Chestnuts t, 
Fio-s 




4 82 
9.52 

7.81 


2.29 
6.40 
2.38 


Grapes 

Lemons 




5. CO 

5.26 

13.50 


1.26 
1.51 
5.60 


Oranges .... 
Peaches 




4.32 
5.30 
2.50 


1.83 

1.20* 

90 


Prunes, French 

Plums 


4.86 
:"..35 


1 82 
1.81 


Walnutst. ■ 




12 98 


5.41 










t Including 


hulls. 


» Estimated. 











FIRST AID TO THE INJURED SOIL. 

Based upon the clear characteristics of 
California soils as already indicated in the 
chapter on that subject. Dr. Hilgard advises 
that any large-scale fertilization should begin 
with phosphates and nitrogen, and, should 
this not prove fully satisfactory, then with 
potash also, this being the order in which 
these substances are likely to become de- 
ficient in most of our soils under cultivation. 
In the course of time potash fertilization will 
become widely necessary in this State : in fact 
some California soils are naturally deficient 
in potash. 



AVAILABLE SUPPLIES OF PHOS- 
PHATES. 

Phosphatic manures which are clearly pro- 
motive of freer fruiting of trees and vines, 
are now being supplied to fruit growers by 
importers and manufacturers located in vari- 
ous California cities, and results attained 
by their use are such as to warrant continu- 
ance. They are bone and rock phosphates, 
which are transformed into superphosphates, 
and, with nitrogenous matter added, serve 
as good applications both for growth and 
fruiting. 



or elsewhere. How to make such material 
available, by simple proceedings, is described 
by Prof. Hilgard as follows : 

1. Bones put into a well-kept (moistened) ma- 
nure pile will themselves gradually decay and dis- 
appear, enriching the manure to that extent. 

2. Raw bones may be bodily buried in the soil 
around the trees; if placed at a sufficient depth, be- 
yond the reach of the summer's heat and drouth 
and cultivating tools, the rootlets will cluster around 
each piece, and, in course of a few years, consume 
it entirely. 

3. Bones may be packed in moist wood ashes, 
best mixed with a little quick-lime, the mass kept 
moist but never dripping. In a few months the 
hardest bones will be reduced to a fine mush, which 
is as effectual as super-phosphate. Concentrated lye 
and soil may be used instead of ashes. In this 
process the nitrogen of the bones is lost, going off 
in the form of ammonia, the odor of which is very 
perceptible in the tank used. 

For neither of these processes should the bones 
be burned. The burning of bones is an unqualified 
detriment to their effectiveness, which can only be 
undone by the use of sulphuric acid. 

4. Bones steamed for three or four hours in a 
boiler under a pressure of thirty-five to fifty pounds, 
can, after drying, be readily crushed in an ordinary 
barley-crushing mill, and thus be rendered more con- 
venient for use. Practically, very little of the nitro- 
gen (glue) of the bones need be thus lost. 

POTASH. 

Though, as already stated, potash is com- 
monly in good suj^ply in California soils, it 



Gypsum 



118 



California Fruits 



is very clear from experience tlaat additions 
of potash, perhaps in more available form, 
are advisable. The fruit analyses already 
given show that the use of this substance by 
fruit trees and vines is very large. Recent 
experiments also show that potash ministers 
directly to the quality of the fruit in some 
cases. Ashes from wood fires are the most 
available source of potash, but it is a mistake 
to regard wood ashes as valuable only for 
their potash contents. Professor Storer has 
found by analysis of a number of samples of 
house ashes, that selected samples contain 
Syi per cent of real potash, and 2 per cent 
of phosphoric acid, or say 4}^ pounds of 
potash and one pound of phosphoric per 
bushel. Hence there is enough potash and 
phosphoric acid to make a bushel of ashes 
worth twenty or twenty-five cents, and besides 
that, some ten or fifteen cents additional may 
be allowed for the "alkali power'" of the 
ashes, i. e., the force of alkalinity which 
enables ashes to rot weeds and to ferment 
peat. 

These facts suggest to the fruit grower 
that he should carefully preserve all home- 
made wood ashes and apply them to the soil 
at once, or, if stored for future application, 
be sure that they are kept dry. Leached ashes 
from the lye barrel, or ashes from open piles, 
leached by rains, are hardly worth handling. 
Coal ashes are almost devoid of fertilizing 
properties, though, if finely divided, as in 
the case of coals burning completely, their 
use is beneficial, mechanically, on clay soils, 
in the same way that fine sand would be. 

The chief supplies of potash salts are now 
brought from Germany and are in the hands 
of local dealers, but there are extensive de- 
posits in Utah, New Mexico, and elsewhere 
in the interior, which can be employed when 
railroads make them available. 

NITROGEN. 

Nitrogen ministers directly to the vegeta- 
tive activity of the plant and is a wonderful 
stimulant of wood growth and foliage. Sup- 
plies of this substance can be had from ani- 
mal manures, which will be considered later. 
The eft'ect of stable manure upon the soil and 
the plant is notably strengthening and re- 
storative. For this reason money and effort 
are often well expended in securing it even 
beyond the cost of the equivalent of the 



plant food which it contains. Another natu- 
ral form of nitrogen in cover crops or green 
manures will be discussed presently. Of 
commercial forms of nitrogen, tankage and 
dried blood are highly esteemed for orchard 
use, and there is large use also of Chile 
saltpeter, which contains about sixteen per 
cent of nitrogen, in immediately available 
form. From one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred pounds per acre is the usual appli- 
cation. Sulphate of ammonia is another 
available source of nitrogen obtainable in 
commerce ; a good commercial article con- 
tains twenty per cent and over of nitrogen. 
It does not, however, act quite as rapidly 
as the Chile saltpeter. A suggestion of 
caution in the use of nitrogenous manures 
will be given presently. 

LIME, GYPSUM, AND MARL. 

Lime is another substance usually abun- 
dant in California soils, but still often desir- 
able as an application. This is, notably, the 
case on our heavy clays or adobes, where, 
as has already been mentioned in another 
connection, the use of lime as a top dressing, 
at the rate of six hundred to one thousand 
pounds to the acre, not only makes the heavy 
soil more friable, but acts upon and makes 
available the large amount of organic mat- 
ter which such soils usually contain. Lime 
also renders inorganic materials more avail- 
able for plant food, corrects acidity, and may 
destroy insects and fungi. Application of 
lime is also desirable after applications of 
barn-yard manure have been made for several 
years ; and it is especially valuable wher- 
ever, in alluvial soils rich in vegetable mat- 
ter, there is an excessive growth of wood and 
leaf. L^sually light soils are not materially 
benefited by the use of lime. 

Ground limestone is sometimes proposed as 
a fertilizer, and has even been offered on the 
market. It is insoluble and inert carbonate 
of lime, and is not worth the cost of hauling 
any distance. It cannot take the place of 
burned limestone. 

Gypsum. — Gypsum, or land plaster (sul- 
phate of lime), occurs in considerable quanti- 
ties in this State and Nevada, and is now 
being mined and ground at a low price in 
the San Joaquin Valley. It acts directly in 
correcting soils made alkaline by presence 



How to Grow Theni 



119 



Treatment of Manure 



of carbonate of soda. Applied to soils not 
alkaline, gypsum sets free potash, magnesia, 
and ammonia, which may be present in in- 
soluble form ; and it also causes potash to 
be transferred from the upper to the lower 
layers of the soil, so that roots can every- 
where find a store of it. Hence its special 
value when applied to deep-rooting plants. 
The reason why gypsum is so capricious in 
its action, which was long a mystery, is now 
held to be clear, because upon soils that are 
tolerably rich in fixed potash it will do good 
service, while upon soils poor in potash it 
will not. In any event gypsum is to be re- 
garded as an excitant rather than as a form 
of plant food. 

Of the several uses of gypsum, probably 
its chief value lies in its power as an absorb- 
ent. If added to manure in excess it delays 
fermentation, and it is, therefore, not a de- 
sirable addition to the compost heap. But 
for covering fermenting manures or scatter- 
ing around moist places in horse and cow 
stables to absorb odors and fix volatile manu- 
rial substances it is of value. 

Marls. — Marl is a calcareous earth, and 
is called shell marl, rock marl, earthy marls, 
etc., according to its origin and mechanical 
condition. A number of samples from differ- 
ent parts of the State have been analyzed 
by Professor Hilgard, and some of them com- 
mended for local application to soils needing 
lime, but not valuable enough to warrant 
hauling far. Marl which sometimes occurs 
in California too near the surface is injuri- 
ous to trees, causing yellow leaf and die 
back when reached by the roots. 



BARN-YARD MANURE AND COM- 
POST. 

Where fruit growing is carried on with 
stock growing, there are abundant supplies 
of manure available, but this combination is 
not characteristic of California, though pre- 
vailing to some extent, and likely to be more 
prevalent as fruit planting extends farther 
from the centers which are wholly given to 
it. But even in the fruit centers there are 
certain amounts of material available from 
the animals that are kept for cultivation and 
hauling, or to be had, often, for the expense 
of hauling from adjacent towns. 



As already stated, coarse, unrotted manure 
can seldom be used to advantage in this 
State, unless it be in heavy soils in regions 
or ample rainfall, or on lighter soils, perhaps, 
if well irrigated ; and even in such situations 
either finely divided or well-rotted manure 
is infinitely superior. Corral scrapings, which 
are usually the first resource when the idea 
of manuring springs up in a neighborhood, 
are not always well decomposed, but they 
are finely divided, and therefore decompose 
readily as compared with coarse straw, which, 
it is said, has been found practically un- 
changed even after lying two years in a dry, 
loose soil. It is, therefore, of the greatest 
advantage to prepare barnyard manure with 
care for use in this State by some such 
method as will be described below, which in- 
cludes composting, thereby turning to ac- 
count nearly all organic material likely to be 
available : 

Clean up all the manure on hand just before the fall 
rains, putting the same on the land, and either cul- 
tivate it in or plow it under. What manure accu- 
mulates during the winter pile in a snug heap some 
five or six feet in depth, and throw it over some 
three or four times during the winter to keep it from 
burning, as well as to thoroughly mix it and thereby 
hasten decomposition. Put horse, cow, hog, chicken, 
and every other kind of manure that can be had, all 
together. Never burn anything that will rot, but 
haul to the pile corn-stalks, roots, and all squash, 
melon, tomato, and potato vines, etc., as well as 
weeds of every description, in fact, anything and 
everything that will decay and make vegetable mat- 
ter. Use fresh hor.se manure mostly to hasten the 
decomposition of said vines, weeds, etc., alternating 
as the heap is made. By so doing there will not be 
a weed seed left with vitality enough to germinate. 
It is well to have manure piles under a roof to avoid 
leaching during the longest and most excessive 
rains, but so situated that some of the rain falling on 
the barn can be easily conducted to the piles, giving 
them just the amount of water necessary to wet 
thoroughly without leaching, and no more.* 

Tre.\tment of M.xn'ure \\'ithout Com- 
posting. — Even when composting all refuse 
vegetable matter with the manure is not 
thought worth the time and trouble, it is 
just as important to properly treat the man- 
ure when stored alone. This can be easily 
done by soine such plan as is described be- 
low : 

Collect the stable manure in a large bin and keep 
it wet enough to prevent, burning or "fire-fanging." 
With a bin. say ten or twelve feet square and five 
or six feet high, built convenient to the barn, the 
manure can be placed therein and watered from time 
to time with much less trouble than it can be com- 



Disposing of Pruniiigs 



120 



California Fruits : 



posted with otlier material. This, of course, pre- 
supposes the ability to run the water in through a 
hose or by natural flow. Care must, of course, be 
taken that too much water be not supplied, causing 
the substance to be leached from the pile. But in my 
own experience I find the danger is at the other 
extreme, and when I open my pile I sometimes 
wish I had used more water. In filling the bin 
leave one end or side open as long as possible, for 
convenience of filling. 

Barn-yard manure and compost carefully 
prepared in some such way as described, and 
applied before the rains or early in the rainy 
season, to be turned under at the first plow- 
ing, will be in condition to be readily assimi- 
lated, and will not injure any soil. Where no 
composting is undertaken it is rational to ap- 
ply the manure during the rainy season di- 
rectly to the land if the rainfall is not large 
and the land fit to haul over. During the 
dry season the manure can be spread in the 
corral and tramped into dust by the stock 
because as long as it remains dry no losses 
by fermentation can occur. Near the end 
of the dry season, the corral should be 
scraped and all fhe material spread on the 
land. In this way the cost and trouble of 
manure piles can be avoided. 

Sheep Manure. — The proximity of the 
orange orchards of Southern California to 
extensive sheep ranges led to large use of 
the manure from the sheep corrals until sup- 
plies were practically exhausted. Afterwards 
large deposits in the San Joaquin Valley 
were opened, and the material, which has 
shown value by analysis in one case of above 
$14 per ton, is finely ground and placed 
upon the market in a business way. One 
deposit mined for several years by George C. 
Roeding & Co., of Fresno, was several acres 
in extent and, at some points the material was 
ten feet deep. Such deposits can seldom be 
found now except in remote parts of the 
State. 

Sheep manure is usually counted richer 
and quicker, though not so lasting in its ef- 
fects, as stable manure. Being highly nitro- 
genous, too free use of sheep manure tends 
to excessive growth of wood, especially on 
young trees. Old bearing trees may be 
benefited liy such a stimulant. 

VARIOUS WASTE PRODUCTS. 

The care advised in saving and treating 
barn-yard maiuirc, hen manure, bones, ashes. 



etc., should be extended to other waste prod- 
ucts of the farm. Soapsuds should be al- 
lowed to run to adjacent trees imless used 
in the flower garden, but not too long upon 
the same trees for it may kill them. Peelings 
and corings of fruit, cut for drying, should 
be fed to pigs and the resulting manure se- 
cured. It is not wise to corral the swine in 
a dry run in the summer and allow the ma- 
nure to be sluiced out by the winter rise of 
the stream. 

Prunings. — Prunings of the orchard and 
vineyard should be burned between the rows, 
in small piles, so as to distribute the ashes 
well. Danger to adjacent trees may be 
avoided by using the portable, home-made 
tin shields on the sides of the fires. It is 
not wise to carry all the prunings to the side 
of the highway and burn them there and 
allow the ashes to be lost. Vineyard prun- 
ings are sometimes cut up with an arrange- 
ment like a straw-cutter, which reduces 
them to bits about an inch in length. They 
are then scattered over the surface of the 
ground, turned under at the next plowing, 
and soon decay. Where, through lightness 
of soil and short rainfall, the woody fiber 
does not readily decay, burning upon an 
iron sled about ten feet long is practiced 
At its front is a V-shaped iron rod, to which 
a horse can be hitched. On the sled are 
flaring sheet-iron sides and perforated bot- 
tom. This is filled with brush, a fire kindled, 
and as the horse moves forward fresh brush 
is added, while the ashes by its motion are 
sifted out very evenly all over the vine- 
yard. 

Refuse from Wineries. — The fermented 
husks, stems, and seeds, all containing valu- 
able fertilizing properties, are often spread 
on the road and in holes, where it is of no 
account whatever. If scattered over the vine- 
yard, much valuable substance would be re- 
turned to the soil. In some soils applica- 
tion of raw refuse would be undesirable 
because of the acidity developed. It is usu- 
ally safe on calcareous soils, and for other 
soils should be composted with lime or wood 
ashes to facilitate decay and neutralization 
of the acid. Of winery refuse the lees are 
especially valuable because of the supplies 
of potash they contain, but they are now 
being largely used in the inanufacture of 
tartaric acid. 



How to Grow Them 



121 



Methods of applying Fertilizers 



Other Waste Products. — There are avail- 
able from various manufactories different 
waste products which can not be specified. 
When any such material comes to the notice 
of the fruit grower, he should seek advice 
from the Agricultural Experiment Station, 
at Berkeley, as to the probable value of the 
material, and its special uses. 

CAUTION IN USE OF FERTILIZERS. 

Besides the injunction already given against 
application of fertilizers when the soil is 
already quite rich enough to produce good 
fruit and plenty of it, it should be noted 
that manures unduly rich in animal matter 
should be used with caution, as they may 
overstimulate the plant, delay or reduce 
fruiting, injure the quality of the fruit, and 
possibly engender disease in the tree or 
vine. Monstrous size and puffiness of 
oranges is clearly due in some cases to 
excess of nitrogenous manures. Excessive 
use of soluble fertilizers like nitrate of soda 
may kill plants or trees outright. 

The effect of excessive use of stable 
manures, or other manures very rich in nitro- 
gen, upon the products of the vine has been 
frequently noted as destructive to bouquet 
and quality. 

METHODS OF APPLYING 
FERTILIZERS. 

Suggestions concerning proper application 
of barn-yard manures, both to young trees 
at planting and to bearing trees and vines, 
have already been given. The same condi- 
tions which cause slow decomposition of 
stable manures apply to any fertilizing ma- 
terial which is not readily soluble in water. 
All such material should be in a finely 
divided state. Surface applications of 
ground bone, will, in the dry climate of 
California, lie practically unchanged for a 
long period. Ground bone should be plowed 
in as deeply as can be done without injury 
to the roots of trees and vines, and then, 
if the surface is kept cultivated, it will lie 
in moist strata and decompose, or be seized 
by the searching rootlets. On the other hand, 
superphosphate, or other really soluble 
chemical fertilizers, will produce immediate 
results, and can be most economically used 
on light and easily permeable soils, on 
which falliiiST water sinks and does not 



flow over the surface. In Icachy soils a 
part of such fertilizers might be carried down 
beyond the reach of shallow-rooting plants, 
but there is little danger of this in the case 
of trees and vines. 

When superphosphate is used on irrigated 
ground, it is sometimes drilled in to pre- 
vent its being carried along with the running 
water. One way is to run a chisel-tooth 
cultivator ahead of the erain-seed drill and 
to distribute and drill in the fertilizer as 
deep as feasible to do without injuring the 
roots. Spring application of fertilizers are 
conveniently made by spreading upon the 
vegetation which is plowed under at that 
season. 

Manures with Irrigation Water. — Dis- 
tribution of fertilizers by using the flow of 
irrigation water is described by A. S. Chap- 
man, as follows : 

We shovel sheep manure into the irrigating ditches, 
allowing each tree to receive about twenty-five 
pounds at each separate irrigation. Our basins cover 
the entire surface of the ground. We make no effort 
to choke such weeds as clover, alfilerilla, and the 
like; but the irrigator with his hoe destroys the ob- 
noxious nightshade, hoarhound. and nettle. 

In the fall of the year we follow with copious lim- 
ing — about three barrels of unslacked lime to the 
acre — applied in the following manner at the head 
of our irrigating ditch : We plant a box about three 
feet wide, si.x feet long, two feet deep, and six 
inches under the surface of the running water. In 
it we place a barrel of the lime. It slacks and swells 
to twice its original bulk. A man stands on this 
with his hoe and sees that the water carries it off 
evenly. With an irrigating head such as we use, 
a man will run into the ditch four barrels a day, or 
about three barrels to the acre. We have a con- 
siderable fall, and the water runs very rapidly; but 
it takes up all the lime, and the water runs white, 
like milk. 

We now leave the orange orchard till spring, when 
we plow under weeds, manure and lime. We thus 
aim to supply our soil with nitrate of lime, potash, 
and magnesia. Carbonic acid gas is absorbed by the 
water and attacks the inert plant food in the soil ; 
hard-pan is prevented both by the mechanical effects 
of the vegetable matter and the lime. 

The basin method of irrigation, to which 
allusion is made, will be more fully described 
in the following chapter. 

FERTILIZING M.\TTERS IN IRRIGA- 
TION WATER. 
\\'ater used for irrigation may carry in 
solution injurious substances, as, for ex- 
ample, alkali, as will be noted in the follow- 



Green Manuring 



122 



California Fruits : 



ing chapter; or it may carry very valuable 
fertilizing properties. These facts can only 
be determined by analysis. Professor Hil- 
gard has found that the water of one creek 
in Alameda County carries to the land it 
irrigates about half a grain of potash in each 
gallon, which means that if twelve inches 
of such water were used on the ground dur- 
ing the season, each acre would receive there- 
from about twenty pounds of fully available 
potash. At Riverside a crop of oranges re- 
(]uires about forty-two pounds of potash 
per acre, of which the amount of irrigation 
water used in that case contained thirty-five 
pounds besides other matters required by 
plants. These things have a definite cash 
value in the market ; and this value the irri- 
gator gets as a free gift in addition to the 
water. Even in the case of the Nile, the . 
sediment is only part of the sum of fertility 
co.nveyed by the river. 

GREEN MANURING OR COVER 
CROPS. 

Green manuring consists in plowing under 
a growth of weeds or a sown crop to secure 
by its decay a contribution of humus to the 
soil. Plants grown for this purpose are 
currently called "cover crops" because they 
cover the soil instead of allowing it to re- 
main bare in "clean culture" of orchard 
or "bare fallow" of grain fields. 

All plants by their decay in the soil add 
organic matter to it, and tliis matter is of 
nitrogenous character, but leguminous plants 
do this and a great deal more, through 
their exclusive ability to use atmospheric 
nitrogen gathered by the bacteria which 
cause nodules upon their roots. There is 
also special value in deep-rooting legume in 
soil amelioration. There is now reason to 
believe, as has already been stated, that where 
moisture is ample for both alfalfa and trees 
we shall come to using this plant for a 
permanent cover of orchard ground as a 
substitute for a part of the clean culture 
which is now observed. This is, in fact, 
already being done to some extent. It is 
also probable that alfalfa can be used for 
a certain time even where its permanent 
stand is not desirable, for it is not difficult 
to destroy alfalfa with a well-sharpened 
plow although the roots may have attained 
considerable thickness. Of course this, as 



as already stated, depends upon moisture sup- 
ply ; where that is not abundant, clean cul- 
ture for moisture conservation is unavoidable. 
But where moisture in excess of the needs of 
the trees is available it will be used in future 
indirectly for their benefit in ways we are 
only just beginning to discern, and one of 
these is likely to be the summer growth of 
legiunes in the orchard. Cow peas on moist 
or irrigated lands may be used in this way. 

A summer cover crop in California is how- 
ever largely a matter for future determina- 
tion, and under ordinary conditions may 
never be practicable. The wider problem is 
to secure the best leguminous plant which 
will make a heavy growth during the winter 
months, so that it can be plowed in early in 
spring, and the ground put in shape for the 
thorough surface pulverization to prevent evap- 
oration of moisture during our long, dry sum- 
mer. For this reason we cannot use many 
plants which are used for green-manuring 
in humid climates. Crimson clover, cow peas, 
etc., do not make good winter growth vmless 
the temperature is relatively high and frosts 
few and light. They make exuberant growth 
for a time in the spring when heat is adequate 
and moisture abundant, but at that time it is 
too late to grow crops for plowing under 
because the soil is too dry for their decay and 
their presence tends otherwise to the loss of 
moisture and makes it very difficult to secure 
a good surface tilth. The greatest care must 
be had not to allow a growth either of cover 
crop or of weeds to stand too long or its 
covering will do more harm than good. 
Hardy legumes are therefore the desideratum 
both for winter forage and green-manuring. 
The common "burr clover" (Medicago den- 
ficidata) is proving very satisfactory in some 
parts of the State, the "Canadian field pea," 
the winter vetch, the hairy vetch and fenu- 
greek are coming into quite wide use in 
orchards in different parts of the State. 
Which plant is best in any locality must be 
determined by its local behavior. In some 
places native lupines make a good natural 
cover crop. 

A Matter of Loc-vl Study. — The recourse 
to cover crops in the orchard or vineyard 
should be approached with a disposition to 
careful study and experiment. Unless it is 
done in the right way it is likely to be dis- 
appointing and the right way involves both 



How to Grow Them 



123 



A matter of Local Study 



the selection of the best legumes and the 
best ways to grow them. Scant growth, 
cloddy soil, loss of moisture and condemna- 
tion of the practice are likely to result from 
ill-considered methods. On the other hand, 
success with cover crops results in such nu- 
merous and important advantages that the 
wide introduction of them must be looked 
upon as one of the most important advances 
in California horticulture during the last dec- 
ade. One of the most careful students of 
cover crops in all their bearings is Mr. L. L. 
Palmer of North Pomona, who in a recent 
public address cited ten different reasons for 
growing cover crops (legumes) in the or- 
chard : 

1. They provide humus in the soil, by 
which the inert fertilization materials of the 
soil are made available. 

2. They make it possible to obtain re- 
sults from the use of the cheaper forms of 
phosphate, such as Thomas Slag and other 
unacidulated phosphates. 

3. They store up nitrogen from the air, 
and therefore act as a direct nitrogenous fer- 
tilizer. 



4. They improve vastly the mechanical 
condition of the soil, making it easily pos- 
sible to secure the best cultivation. 

5. They put the soil in a condition to re- 
tain moisture. 

6. They make the soil jjorous, so that 
proper aeration is secured. 

7. They are a means for overcoming ir- 
rigation hardpan and plow-sole. 

8. While growing they prevent the washing 
of the soil by the storm waters. 

9. While growing they probably assist in 
])reventing the radiation of heat from the 
ground in time of a freeze. 

10. They do away with the cultivation of 
the ground during the winter months. 

Each of these reasons suggests a chapter of 
discussion and explanation which cannot be 
indulged in. Every reader should keep him- 
self up to date in this progressive subject by 
thoughtful reading of our horticultural jour- 
nals and proceedings of our horticultural as- 
semblies. 




Irrigation 



124 



California Fruits : 



CHAPTER XV. 

IRRIGATION OF FRUIT TREES AND VINES. 



WHETHER fruit shall be grown with irri- 
gation or not is a local and specific 
question, and it must be answered with due 
regard for several conditions, among which 
are ;■ First, the minimum local rainfall ; sec- 
ond, the depth and character of the soil and 
subsoil ; third, the situation and environment 
of the ground on which the fruit is to be 
grown ; fourth, the kind of fruit which it is 
desired to produce. 

These conditions are all correlated, and a 
knowledge of them all is necessary to an 
intelligent decision as to correct practice in 
any given locality. For example, the amount 
of rainfall which is adequate in one locality, 
or in one situation, even, may be quite in- 
sufficient in another, because, first, one soil 
may be deep and fairly retentive, into which 
roots can penetrate and find abundant mois- 
ture ; second, another soil may have sufficient 
depth, but he so porous as to lose its mois- 
ture by evaporation, or so leachy as to lose it 
by drainage ; third, still another may be 
shallow, and quickly dried out under a fervid 
sun, or quickly drained by reason of a sloping 
substratum of rock or hard-pan, while another 
similar soil, differently situated, may re- 
ceive abundant moisture from the drainage 
of the slope above it; fourth, possibly in all 
the soils cited there might be adequate mois- 
ture for deciduous fruits, but citrus fruits 
would require irrigation ; or enough for 
young, but not for bearing trees. 

Thus it appears that even to decide whether 
a location has sufficient rainfall for the 
growth of fruit without irrigation, one must 
pass judgment upon all the conditions first 
mentioned. It is hardly worth while, then, 
to discuss such a topic upon theoretical 
grounds, or to attempt to answer the general 
question. Shall irrigation be employed in the 
growth of fruit? The true guide is en- 
lightened local experience, and the true test 



is the growth of- the tree and the excellence 
of its fruit. So long as the grower is able 
to secure every year a generous amount of 
good-sized and excellent fruit by natural 
rainfall, he need concern himself very little 
about irrigation; if his tree shows distress, 
and his fruit, even when properly thinned out, 
is not up to market standards every year, he 
may do well to provide himself with irriga- 
tion facilities, either for constant use or to 
supplement rainfall when it is occasionally 
deficient. 

Of course it is not commended as a rule 
of practice that the grower wait until the tree 
shows signs of distress before applying water. 
This is a very had plan of proceeding, but 
the visible language of the tree is mentioned 
as indicating that the tree needs help, 
either at regular intervals or occasionally, 
and after such a warning the grower should 
be able to tell by examination of the soil and 
by study of the local rainfall record when this 
need will occur, and apply his water in ad- 
vance of the need. 

Recent experience has enabled fruit grow- 
ers in all parts of California to arrive at a 
truer conception of the relation of irrigation 
to the growth of fruits. Many who long 
scouted the suggestion that irrigation was 
necessary for deciduous fruit trees in their 
districts, have found that water, in addition 
to the rainfall, was very profitable, either to 
enable large, bearing trees to produce larger 
fruit, or to maintain in full vigor their later 
summer growth and to make strong fruit 
buds, which insure the following year's pro- 
duction. It has also been widely demon- 
strated that a tree which is adequately sup- 
plied with water, no matter whether it be 
directly from the clouds or through the irri- 
gating stream, yields fruit of better size, 
aroma, flavor and carrying quality than a 
tree which, from any cause, falls even a 



How to Grow Them 



125 



How much Water to Use 



little short of an adequate supply. It is 
clear then that neither irrigation nor non-irri- 
gation are in themselves principles, but are 
merely methods to be employed when con- 
ditions demand the one or the other. 

Several claims against irrigated products 
may be stated and opposed in this way : 

( I ) The claim that nursery trees grown 
by irrigation are, from that mere fact, infe- 
rior is based upon experience in transplanting 
trees unduly forced by overirrigation. Im- 
mense growth from the bud in a single season 
of an inch and a half in diameter and ten 
feet in height tempted buyers who wanted 
to get as much as possible for their money. 
The result of setting out such trees created 
a strong prejudice against irrigated nursery 
.stock. It is now clearly seen that moderate, 
thrifty growth is the ideal in a young tree, 
and if the soil does not hold rainfall enough 
to secure this, water enough to secure it must 
be applied. 

(2) The claim that irrigated fruit lacks 
aroma and flavor is based upon observation 
of monstrous, insipid fruit forced into such 
abnormal character by excessive irrigation. 
Growers who concluded therefrom that irri- 
gated fruit was necessarily inferior, denied 
water to their trees and gathered small, 
tough, unmarketable fruit, because there was 
not enough rainfall to enable the trees to 
perform their proper function. As it is now 
conceded that the highest quality, including 
the delicate aromas and flavors, can be se- 
cured only by adequate moisture, it matters 
not how long since it fell from the clouds nor 
by what route it reaches the roots of the 
trees. 

(3) The claim that irrigated fruit could 
not endure shipment was based upon the 
bruising and collapse of fruit which was un- 
duly inflated by overirrigation. The best 
fruit for shipping is the perfect fruit and that 
is secured as just stated. The fact that the 
greater part of the fresh fruit shipped across 
the continent from California has been more 
or less irrigated, according to the needs of 
difl^erent localities, has settled the point be- 
yond further controversy. 

(4) The claim that canners objected to 
irrigated fruit was based upon the early ex- 
perience with overirrigated fruit, which 
lacked quality and consistency. At present 
the canners encourage irrigation and all 



other arts of growing which bring the prod- 
uct up to the standards they insist upon. 

(5j The claim that irrigated fruit is in- 
ferior for drying has the same foundation as 
the preceding claims and is just as clearly 
based upon misapprehension. Watery fruit 
is obviously inferior for drying, but such fruit 
is the fault of the irrigator, not of irrigation. 
One of the plainest deductions from experi- 
ence is that small, tough fruit makes unprofit- 
able dried fruit, and that the best develop- 
ment of the fruit is essential to the best re- 
sults from drying. Many comparative weigh- 
ings have shown that the greatest yield in 
dried form has been secured from trees which 
have had water enough to produce good, 
large fruit. Even to bear fruit for drying, 
then, the tree must have moisture enough 
to develop size and quality. If lacking mois- 
ture, the tree serves its own purpose in de- 
veloping pit and skin and reduces the pulp, 
in which lie the desirability and value of 
dried fruits. 

Of course the water should be applied at 
proper times, in proper amount, and in a 
proper way. 

HOW AIUCH WATER SHOULD BE 
USED? 

This is by its very nature an elusive ques- 
tion and any attempt to answer it by definite 
prescription is more apt to produce folly 
than wisdom. For as it appears that whether 
irrigation is at all needed or not depends upon 
several conditions which must be ascertained 
in each place, so the amount of water, which 
is really an expression of the degree of that 
need, depends also upon local conditions of 
rainfall, of soil depth and retentiveness, of 
rate of waste by evaporation, of the partic- 
ular thirst of each irrigated crop, etc. The 
result secured by the use of water is really 
the ultimate measure of the duty of water in 
each instance. In the case of fruit trees and 
vines, then, whatever amount of water secures 
thrifty and adequate wood growth and strong, 
good-colored foliage, but not excessive or 
rank growth ; and abundance of good-sized 
and rich, but not monstrous and water)', 
fruit, is the proper amount for that place and 
that product, — and to the ascertainment of 
that amount, by local experience of himself 
and others, the grower should employ his 
most earnest thought and his keenest insight. 



Irrigation Statistics 



126 



California Fruits 



It is, however, a fact that this rapid gen- 
eration seeketh persistently after a sign, and 
has more respect for one who declares a 
recipe than for one who suggests a reason. 
Evidently some outlines, at least, of a pre- 
scription must be attempted, and possibly it 
may serve as some sort of a measure to those 
who may be beginning without any knowl- 
edge whatever on the subject. 



During recent years the writer has con- 
tinually renewed his data of the irrigation 
practice of California fruit growers by sys- 
tematic inquiry and has prepared four bul- 
letins* which have been published by the Irri- 
gation Investigations of the U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. An account based 
upon these statements is undertaken in the 
accompanying table and in the following dis- 
cussion : 



Instances of irrigation frequency, season and volume. 
Citrus fruits. 



CAI,IFORNI.\ COUNTIES 



Butte 






S 


Tulare 


do 


10 


do.. .. 




Ventura 

Los Angeles 

do 


20 
12 
10 


do 


18 


do 


20 


do 


20 


do 


20 


do 


20 


do 


18 


do 


15 


do 


18 


do 


18 


do 


18 




18 




15 


do 


10 


do 


12 


do 


12 


do 


12 


do 


12 


San Bernardino 

do 


12 


do 


12 


do 


12 


Riverside 

do 


do 


12 


do ' 


7 


do 


10 


do 


10 


San Diego 

do 


8 
12 


do 


10 


do 


8 


do 


18 



irngat 

April to October 5- 

do 2- 

March to September 

April to October 5 ■ 

March to October 8 

do 5- 

do 5 

June to October 

May to October 

June to October 

July to September 3- 

do 3 

do 

March to November 

do 

May to October 

Jul}' to October 

April to October 

May to October 

May, July, September 

May to October 

do 4- 

do 6- 

When needed 

March to December 3- 

When needed 

March to October 

June to October 6 ■ 

May to September 4- 

April to December 

When needed 

do 

May to November 

April to September 

April to November 

May to September 4- 

May to October 

do 

do 4- 

do 6- 

June to October 



ber 


Depth 


Total 


f 


of each 


depth for 


it ions 


application. 


season. 




Inches. 


Inches. 


« 


4.5 


22-26 


7 


2 


4-14 


6 


2 


12 


8 


4 


20-32 


10 


6 


48 60 


7 


2 


10.14 


H 


2.5 


12.5-15 


3 


6 9 


18-27 


6 


3.5 


21 


3 


4 


12 


4 


1.5 


4.5-6 


7 


1 


3-7 


6 


0-75 2 


4.5-12 


7 


1.5 


10.5 


3 


2 


6 


6 


1.5 


9 


4 


1.5 


6 


7 


2.5 


17 5 


6 


2.75 


16.5 


3 


4 


12 


4 


2.5 


10 


•8 


2 


8-16 


H 


4 


24 32 


8 


5 


40 


5 


4 


12-20 


8 


2 


16 


8 


.75-1.5 


6-12 


■7 


4.5 


24-31.5 


(i 


6 


24.36 


8 


2 


16 


8 


2 


16 


9 


1.5 


13.5 


7 


3 


21 


6 


1.66 


10 


7 


3 


21 


6 


6 


24 36 


4 


2.5 


10 


5 


3 


15 


8 


2 


8-16 


8 


4 


24 32 


3 


3 


9 



* Farmers' Bulletin. No. 116. "irrigation in fruit growinu." Farmers' Bulletin, No. 138, " Irrigation in garden and field," Bul- 
letin of Experiment Stations. No. 108, '" Irrigation practice among fruit growers of the Pacific coast.'' Annual report of Irrigation 
and Drainage investigations. 1904, " Relation of irrigation to yield, size, quality, and commercial suitability of fruits." 



How to Grow Them 



127 



Irrigation Statistics 



Instances of irrigation frequency, season and volume. 
Deciduous fruits. 



CALIFORNIA COUNTIES. 



Inche 



Shasta 45 

do 40 

Butte 

do 28 

Colusa 12 

Nevada 40 

Placer 25-35 

do 25-35 

do 25-35 

Sacramento 20 

do 18 

do 18 

do 18 

Santa Clara 20 

do 20 

do 20 

do 20 

do 16 

do 20 

do 15 

do 12 

do 20 

Monterej' 13 

Merced 12 

do 10 

Fresno 8 

do 8 

do 8 

Kings 7 

Tulare ■ ■ ■ • 

Kern 4 

Inyo 3 5 

Santa Barbara • ■ ■ • 

Los Angeles 18 

do 20 

do 12 

do 

Orange 15 

do 12 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

San Bernardino 

do 

do 

Riverside 

do 15 

do 

do 10 

San Diego 

do 8 

do 18 



June to August 

do 

May to July 

February 

Winter.' 1 

Summer 

June to October 

May to October 

May to September 

June to September 

June to October 

July to September 

June to August 

March and May 

February and May 

March to June 

Summer 

March to June 

March 

July to August 

Winter 

January to July 

February to June 

Summer 

do 

do 

February 

March to July 

Summer 

March to May 

March to June 

April to August 

March and May 

March or April 

July 

June to November 

June to October 

March or April 

Summer 

do 

January, March, June 

Winter 1 

Summer 

do 2 

Summer 

do 

April to October 

March to August 

May to September 

March to October 

April to September 

June to September 

Summer 

do 



.-umber 


Depth 


Total depth 




of each 


for 


igatious. 


irrigation. 


season. 




♦inches. 


•Inches 


11 


1.5 


17 5 


3 4 


2 


8 


2-3 


6 


12-18 


1 


12 


12 


. or 2 


12 


12-24 


1 


2.5 


2.5 


12 


1 


12 


10 


2 


22 


10 


1.25 


12-5 


18 


1 


18 


5 


1 


5 


3-4 


1.25 


3.25-5 


8-10 


1.25 


10-12.5 


2 


6-8 


12-16 


2 


6 


12 


1-3 


3-12 


9-12 


2 


3-4 


6-8 


1-3 


3 


3-9 


1 


12 


12 


3 


4 


12 


1 


8-10 


8-10 


3 


4 


12 


1-4 


4 


4-16 


3-4 


2-3 


6 12 


2 4 


3-6 


12-24 


3-4 


2 5 


7 5-10 


1 


12 


12 


2 


6 


12 


2-4 


4 


8-16 


1 


6 


6 


2 


4 


8 


5 


1.5 


7.5 


2 


1.5 


3 


1 


6-9 


6-9 


1 


6 


6 


2-3 


2 


4-6 


3 


2.75 


8 25 


1 


12 


12 


2-3 


2 


4-6 


2 


4 


8 


3 


4 


12 


or 2 


4 


4-8 


2 


3 


6 


i or 3 


4 


8 12 


1 


6 


6 


2 3 


6 


12-18 


3-5 


2 


6-10 


3-4 


2 


6-8 


3-6 


1.5 


4.5-9 


6-8 


1..T 


9 12 


3-4 


1.66 


5 6.66 


4 


3-4 


12-16 


3-5 


2 


6 10 


3 


3 


9 



an actual depth of i 



How to Grow Them 



128 



Relation of Rainfall to Irripatiou 



The foregoing outline of local practice 
shows that infinite variety exists and in the 
nature of the case must exist, and that any 
definite prescription of the duty of water is 
impossible. The compilation includes, how- 
ever, the extremes, and in this way gives a 
sort of picture of prevalent practice. In 
some cases cited, in which the amount of 
water at each irrigation seems small, the 
fact is due to the use of small basins, while 
in this computation the contents are reduced 
to acre-inches which cover the whole surface ; 
in other cases, as, for instance, the fre- 
quent irrigation in Sacramento and Placer 
Counties, the soils are shallow, over- 
lying bed-rock, and a small amount saturates 
them. In other places an acre-foot of 
water is readily absorbed and retained in 
the deep soil. The annual rainfall is also 
seen to have little relation to the amount of 
irrigation, because neither fine shallow, nor 
deep coarse soils, can retain the volume of 
water which falls upon them during the rainy 
season. Then the varying rate of evapora- 
tion, the character of the tilth, etc., enter as 
factors and it becomes clear that he is for- 
tunate who knows how much water to use 
on his own place. 

It is interesting to note that results of 
close inquiry by the Irrigation Investigations 
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture to 
ascertain the amounts of water used by 
measurement of water running in main 
ditches and by estimate of the acreage to 
which the water is applied, do not agree 
closely with the growers' estimates of the 
amounts of water which they actually use. 
There are of course always issues between 
water-purveyors and water-lmyers which can 
not be entered upon in this connection. A 
rough conclusion from data secured from 
the ditch flow, etc., is that from 12 to 30 
acre-inches of water are used annually in 
irrigated orchards and vineyards, according 
to local conditions involved. It is quite clear 
that the amounts chiefly vised would not be 
the average but would tend toward the lower 
figure. The details of these inquiries are 
found in the publications on irrigation of the 
Office of Experiment Stations, U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture.* 



* Definite citation is not made because these publications are 
continually appearing with additional data on the effective use 
of water. The whole series should be examined. 



RELATION OF RAINFALL TO 
IRRIGATION. 

The amount of rain and the time it falls 
are clearly the most important factors in 
determining the necessity for irrigation. Ab- 
sence of rainfall makes a desert of the rich- 
est soils at all elevations and at all exposures. 
Its only remedy is irrigation. But there are 
degrees of poverty in rainfall, and thorough 
tillage will often lessen the ill effects of a 
scanty supply, so that an oasis may be made 
to appear without water beyond that supplied 
from the clouds. This is the triumph of till- 
age in the arid region which is to be con- 
sidered in another connection. 

The line between adequate and insufficient 
rainfall can not be closely drawn. In the 
growth of common orchard fruits, irrigation 
is not resorted to at a number of points 
where the local rainfall sometimes is as low 
as 15 or 16 inches, but with less than that 
amount, unless the soil receive additional 
moisture by underflow, it is essential. On 
the other hand, irrigation is regularly prac- 
ticed in some localities where the rainfall 
sometimes rises to 45 inches. LInder average 
conditions of soil depth and retentiveness, the 
amount of rainfall which may be considered 
aaequate for deciduous orchard trees under 
good cultivation is about 20 inches. So 
definitely is this amount fixed in the minds 
'of some California growers as meeting the 
needs of the tree for satisfactory growth and 
fruitage that, when rainfall for a season is 
less than that amount, irrigation is at once 
resorted to to supply the shortage. 

But owing to local conditions of soil and 
climate, the rainfall, no matter how large, 
may not be relied upon to carry the trees 
through the dry season. The fact is that 
the soil is not capable either of receiving the 
heavy rainfall or of long retaining such por- 
tions as actually enter it. There is. then, a 
considerable part of the rainfall which is 
worse than worthless, because it does in- 
jury by soil washing and soil leaching, and 
places where extremely heavy rainfall oc- 
curs may be actually worse off than other 
places with less rainfall. The table clearly 
shows that some localities of large rainfall 
also lead in amounts of water supplied by 
irrigation. The converse is also true, for 
some localities of light rainfall report sue- 



How to Grow Them 



129 



Relation of Soil to Irrigation 



cess with deciduous fruit trees with a mini- 
nuun amount of irrigation water. 

Deciduous Fruits. — Without making too 
much of individual reports cited in the table 
there appear instances enough to warrant 
the conclusion that the deciduous fruit tree 
can winter successfully with a small mois- 
ture supply and is, in fact, in less danger 
from lack of moisture than from oversupply 
at this time of the year. If there be enough 
moisture to prevent injury from evaporation, 
the tree will start good growth as the sea- 
son advances and continue it if irrigation is 
given promptly and in sufficient quantity. 
There must always be a determination of 
what is an adequate supply by reference to 
local conditions, but as an estimate of nec- 
essary rainfall has been made at 20 inches, 
it is evident that adequate irrigation may be 
very much less than that. The rainfall of 
20 inches is distributed through six or seven 
months. Some of it consists of light rains, 
with long, dry intervals, where there is slight 
penetration and quick evaporation. Some 
of it is lost by run ofif and by drainage. It 
is not surprising, then, that some growers, 
having deep valley loams to render their 
irrigation effective, report success with de- 
ciduous trees with 8 or 10 inches of water 
applied just at the time of the tree's great- 
est needs and used, no doubt, with maxi- 
mum efficiency. It seems to be a warranted 
deduction, from all data known to the writer, 
tliat 10 inches of water, applied at the right 
time to soils of good depth and fair re- 
tentiveness, and accompanied by good tillage 
for conservation, is an adequate supply for 
five months of growth and fruiting even 
when the rainfall is only about enough to 
prevent drying out during the winter season. 
Some growers report use of less than this. 
Certainly less will do for young trees under 
favorable conditions, and some of the least 
amounts are reported from the newly planted 
regions. As the trees advance in age and 
bearing, larger amounts will be required. 
The instances of greatest frequency of appli- 
cation may be taken as indicating soils lack- 
ing retentiveness, either through shallowness 
or coarseness, or either of these accompanied 
by extreme summer heat and aridity. 

Citrus Fruits. — The last table gives an 
interesting showing of irrigation practice 



with citrus fruits in California. As these 
trees are evergreens, and as their habit is to 
make their chief fruit growth in the autumn 
after the workof the deciduous tree has been fin- 
ished for the season, the irrigation season 
for them is much longer. As they are, in 
fact, almost always active and sustaining 
uninterrupted evaporation from their leaf 
surfaces, they must always be provided with 
moisture or ill will result to tree or fruit. 
They thus require more water than do de- 
ciduous trees. There is the same relation 
between irrigation and rainfall with citrus 
as with deciduous fruit trees, but the de- 
gree of relation is different. Many trials 
have shown that it is practically impossible 
to grow satisfactory citrus fruits without 
irrigation, unless there be underflow, and this 
is attended by the usual difficulties of high 
ground water and undesirable. There is no 
combination of heavy rainfall, or winter ir- 
rigation, and soil retentiveness which will 
supply the summer and autumn thirst of the 
orange or lemon in California. Irrigation, 
too, must be maintained both summer and 
winter wherever the rainfall is not well dis- 
tributed and adequate. In the chief citrus 
regions of the State rainfall is seldom ade- 
quate except during January and February, 
and not always then. Under such conditions 
an estimate of the average requirements of 
citrus fruit trees in bearing would be about 
20 inches of irrigation, irrespective of rain- 
fall, although, as the table shows, there are 
localities of larger rainfall and more retentive 
soils where crops of these fruits can be made 
with 10 inches used just at the right time. 

RELATION OF SOIL TO IRRIGATIOX. 

As already stated, the desirability of irri- 
gation is unquestionably, in many cases, con- 
ditioned upon soil depth and character. This 
relation has received careful attention from 
soil physicists, and an understanding of it 
involves problems of plant growth and the 
movement of water in soils, the leading facts 
of which are available in popular form.* 

Analysis of such phenomena cannot be 
undertaken in this connection but a few strik- 



* Relations of soils to climate. V. S. Dept Acr . Weather 
Bureau Bui. .^. Water as a factor in the growth of plants. Year- 
book U. S. Dept. of AEr. 1894. p. 16.=^ .Some interestinc soil 
problems. Yearbook U.S. Dept. Aer.. 189",p.429. The movement 
and retention of water in soils. Yearbook IT. S. Dept. Agr.. 1898, 
p. .^99. The mechatiics of soil moisture, V. S. Dept. .Agr.. Div- 
ision of soils Bui. 10. 



Relation of Tillage to Irrigation 



130 



California Fruits : 



ing contrasts in existing practice are very 
suggestive. 

On the famous river-bank fruit land of 
the Sacramento Valley, with loams of great 
depth and good retentiveness, and with an 
average rainfall of approximately 20 inches, 
irrigation is resorted to only in years of 
minimum rainfall, when the precipitation is 
perhaps only about half the average. At 
nearly the same level, as already cited, where 
the soil is shallow and overlies hardpan, reg- 
ular irrigation is required. But still more 
marked contrast is found in the foothills 
within sight of these valley fruit lands, where 
with twice the average rainfall irrigation must 
begin early in the summer and continue until 
autumn is well advanced, because, first, the 
slope is so rapid that much rainfall is lost 
by run off; second, the soil is too shallow 
above bed rock to hold much water. Even 
here, however, there comes in a local varia- 
tion of measurable eiTect. When the soil lies 
upon vertical plates of bed rock much water 
is retained between them and is capable of 
being reached by tree roots, while soil lying 
upon flat plates of rock has no such subter- 
ranean reservoir. In the foothill region there 
also occurs exceptional exposure from slopes 
facing the midsummer sun in an atmosphere 
whose dryness is but slightly ameliorated by 
the influence of air currents from the coast. 

In the valley and foothill contrast, just 
cited, the unirrigated valley looks up to the 
irrigated foothills. There are also places 
where unirrigated hillslopes look down upon 
irrigated valleys. The uplands of San Diego 
County are nearer the coast than those above 
the Sacramento Valley. They, too, have a 
rainfall usually ample for deciduous fruits 
suited to their elevation. Their rolling pla- 
teaus of deep soil, free from excessive heat 
and evaporation which occur on highlands 
farther inland and 500 miles farther north, pro- 
duce very successfully without irrigation. In 
this region, however, the rainfall in the valleys 
below is often less than the needs of even 
deciduous fruit trees, and waters flowing 
from mountain snows through a region of 
unirrigated uplands must be used to irrigate 
them. 

Still another striking contrast, and one in- 
volving another and wholly different factor, 
is fo--nd in the San Joaquin Valley. Near 
Visalia, 2 feet above river bottom and 4 feet 
above the surrounding plains, there is a large 



area of deep alluvial soil with nuich decayed 
vegetable matter. The land is moistened 
by underflow from the river, and, though 
the rainfall is but 7J^ inches, deciduous fruits 
are grown without irrigation. In the same 
county, and only 18 miles distant, there are 
areas of rich loam mixed with granitic sand 
16 to 18 feet deep. In this locality, though 
the rainfall is 1 1 ^ inches, irrigation is prac- 
ticed freely, as the loss of moisture in sum- 
mer is very great. 

RELATION OE TiLLACxE TO 
IRRIGATION. 

Tillage, particularly during the dry sea- 
son of the year, under some conditions, 
directly determines the need of irrigation, 
and is to a certain extent, as the popular 
phrase goes, a substitute for irrigation. 
Under all conditions surface tillage, by pro- 
moting conservation of soil moisture, is de- 
terminative of the actual duty of water, 
whether it be from rainfall or irrigation. 
The effect of frequent surface tillage has 
been accurately determined by investigation 
and experiment, both in humid and arid re- 
gions. These experiments fully support the 
view taught by the experience of about half 
a century in California, in accordance with 
which thorough tillage has been so widely 
practiced in the arid sections as an essential 
to successful fruit growing. 

As already maintained in Chapter XIII. 
the relations of tillage to soil moisture in- 
clude both reception and conservation. For 
the reception of moisture, deep work with 
the plow, and sometimes with the subsoiler 
also, is almost indispensable. To retain this 
moisture and to prevent, as far as possible, 
its escape into the thirsty air of the arid 
region by .surface evaporation, less depth and 
more thorough surface pulverization are re- 
quired. Recent practice has been tending to- 
ward deeper summer cultivation, so that, as 
previously claimed, 5 or 6 inches of loose, 
finely divided soil is now obtained where 
formerly half that depth was considered ade- 
quate. It has also been shown that frequent 
stirring of this fine surface layer checks 
evaporation, even when no water is applied 
to compact the surface or where no weeds 
grow to draw upon the soil moisture. In a 
word, the aim of tillage in the arid region, 



How to Grow Them 



131 



Cultivation Determines Success 



so far as it relates to moisture supply in 
the soil consists in opening the soil to rain, 
or to irrigation, and in subsequently closing 
it to evaporation. These are the principles 
which were recognized and applied in Cali- 
fornia half a century ago and are now en- 
joying somewhat sensational renaissance in 
the "dry fanning" agitation in the interior 
of the United States. 

A Negative Declaration. — It is inter- 
esting that current practice affords full dem- 
onstration of the foregoing claims both posi- 
tively and negath'ely. The negative argu- 
ment in favor of moisture conservation by 
clean summer cultivation is found in the fact 
that growers in regions of heaviest rainfall 
approve the growth of cover crops, like clover, 
after the trees reach bearing age, and also 
that others employ scant summer cultivation, 
or cultivation for a short period only. The 
idea of these growers is that such practices 
relieve the soil of excessive moisture, either 
by the growth of the cover crop or by facili- 
tating surface evaporation, and so prevent 
the tree from being stimulated to too large 
wood growth, or maintaining growth so late 
in the season as to enter the frost period in 
too active a condition and with new wood 
not properly matured. Quite in contrast 
with this is the practice, which is gaining 
ground in the hottest parts of the irrigated 
region, of growing alfalfa as a cover crop 
for the purpose of shading the soil and thus 
reducing soil temperature and, perhaps, of 
avoiding the ill effects of the reflection of 
liurning sun heat from a smooth surface of 
light-colored soil, or the ill effect of "burn- 
ing out of humus" by clean summer 
culture. In such cases more irrigation is 
needed to supply enough water for the 
growth of both trees and cover crop. But 
at present these exceptions are of rare oc- 
currence. 

Cultivation Not Determined by Irriga- 
tion. — The adoption of a policy of clean 
cultivation in the dry season is not condi- 
tioned upon the amount of moisture avail- 
able either by rainfall or irrigation. It is 
])ursued both where irrigation is i:)racticed 
and where it is not, and also where the rain- 
fall is greatest and where it is least. It pre- 
vails in the humid region where rainfall may 
rise to 60 inches or more and in the arid re- 



gion where it may not exceed one-tenth as 
much. As a matter of fact, there does not 
appear to be a good fruit soil so deep and re- 
tentive that it can retain enough even of a 
very heavy rainfall to eft'ect good tree growth 
and fruit bearing if it is forced to sustain the 
loss by evaporation from a compact surface 
during the long dry season following. There 
may be, it is true, soils weak in capillarity, in 
which water can not rise from a great depth 
and in which deep rooting plants may find 
ample water in the subsoil, providing it is 
held there by impervious underlying strata. 
There are many more instances where loss by 
natural drainage is added to loss by evapora- 
tion. But, disregarding exceptions, the loss 
of moisture by both drainage and evapora- 
tion during the dry season is so great that the 
soil to a depth of several feet loses practically 
all the Vvfater which is available for plant 
growth, and the trees fail or become unprofit- 
able. Loss by drainage can not, practically, 
be prevented, but loss by evaporation can be 
so reduced that trees and vines will be 
adequately supplied in spite of the loss by 
drainage. Because, therefore, the soil can 
not retain enough water in its natural state, 
no matter how much it may receive, clean 
summer cultivation, involving quite complete 
and more or less frequent stirring of the sur- 
face to the depth of 5 or 6 inches, as discussed 
in Chapter XIII, is the almost universal prac- 
tice, irrespective of local rainfall or of irriga- 
tion. 

Cultivation, However, Determines Suc- 
cess OF Irrigation. — The prevailing motive 
for cultivation in the dry-summer region is 
moisture retention. In this respect good sur- 
face tilth is so effective that, though enough 
moisture can not be retained without it, so 
much can be retained with it that, even 
where irrigation or rainfall is moderate in 
amount, it may serve all purposes of the tree 
or vine. Thus cultivation enters into the 
fruit-growers' practice in the region under 
consideration, not to make large rainfall ef- 
fective as it does in some parts of the region, 
init to make moderate rainfall effective, or to 
make small irrigation effective, by increas- 
ing the duty of water which is applied. It 
becomes not only a ruling consideration in 
the effectiveness of a certain amount of rain- 
fall, as has already been suggested in an- 
other connection, but it also determines the 



When to Irrig-ate 



132 



California Fruits : 



success of irrigation and the amount of water 
required ; for, although it was an early and 
rude practice to rely upon irrigation to sup- 
port uncultivated fruit trees and to irrigate 
more and more frequently as the ground be- 
came harder from its use, this policy has now 
no standing in commercial fruit growing. Not 
only was it wasteful of water, but it was 
otherwise detrimental to the thrift of trees. 

Cultivation and Irrigation Work for 
Soil Improvement. — Thorough cultivation, 
both in winter and summer, has other very 
important ends in view. It opens the soil and 
promotes aeration ; it encourages deeper root- 
ing and thus encourages the tree to take pos- 
session of a greater soil mass both for mois- 
ture and other plant food. It is part of the 
very valuable policy of increasing humus by 
plowing under the natural growth of weeds or 
specially sown legumes, which is discussed in 
Chapter XIV. This affords opportunity to 
use water, beyond the amount the trees re- 
quire, for soil improvement. 

WHEN TO IRRIGATE. 

The outline of experience which has been 
given includes times for irrigation as well as 
amounts of water used, but when to irrigate 
is governed by local conditions and the needs 
of different fruits, and can not be stated in 
general rules. There are, however, some 
principles involved which may be hinted at. 

Winter Irrigation. — On lands with suffi- 
cient depth of fairly retentive soil, the grower 
may artificially supplement a scanty rainfall 
by thoroughly soaking the land by winter irri- 
gation and then by careful summer cultivation 
he will be able to conserve enough water in the 
soil to carry deciduous fruit trees or vines 
through bearing and autumn bud formation 
without further water supply. But there are 
other situations in which no amount of winter 
irrigation nor rainfall will suffice for these 
ends. There are foothill orchard areas in 
which the winter rainfall is two or three times 
as great as in the valley situations where fruit 
is successfully grown without irrigation, and 
yet water must be applied in summer on those 
foot-hills or the fruit would be unmarketable 
and the trees in distress. The forty or more 
inches of rainfall falling on a shallow soil un- 
derlaid by a sloping bed-rock in some cases 
nearly sluices the cultivated soil from its 
foothold, and vet the oversaturation in winter 



avails nothing for summer growth, because 
most diligent cultivation can not retain mois- 
ture enough in shallow soil thus situated to 
sustain bearing trees in good crops of full- 
sized fruit. The same is true of valley soils 
underlaid by hard-pan. In such cases winter 
irrigation could add nothing but distress to 
the soil oversoaked by rainfall, and summer 
irrigation, well-timed and adequate, is the 
secret of success in the orchard. The same 
conclusion, although for very different rea- 
sons, must hold for soils underlaid by gravel 
or sand, and thus too rapidly dried by leach- 
ing. 

But even this generalization must be ac- 
cepted only for situations endowed with con- 
ditions which justify it. There may be slop- 
ing hills with shallow soil where winter rain- 
fall does not amount to saturation. Then 
winter irrigation to supply such saturation is 
desirable, and then, too, summer irrigation in 
proper amount and at proper intervals, will 
also be demanded. Among the foot-hills, 
also, there may be localities with depth of re- 
tentive soil in which water enough can be ap- 
plied in winter to carry trees through the 
year. Thus we come again to the only safe 
generalization which can be made, and that is, 
that everywhere water must be adequate to 
the demands of the tree at the time it is 
needed, and whether it can best be applied in 
summer or winter, or both, or whether it is 
not necessary to make any artificial applica- 
tion at all, depends upon existing conditions 
which the grower must ascertain and to which 
his policy and practice must conform. It is a 
fact, however, that in all soils, which under 
good cultivation are fairly retentive, winter 
irrigation, when water is most abundant, and 
usually carries most sediment, can be made to 
go far toward making summer irrigation un- 
necessary for all deciduous fruits. 

As to winter irrigation, practice varies, 
some relying upon a single heavy flooding by 
using checks on contour lines, by which, per- 
haps, a foot in depth or more of water is al- 
lowed to soak into the soil ; others use the 
same method of application in winter as in 
summer, and, therefore, give a number of irri- 
gations in winter. There is, of course, much 
less danger of injury by water to deciduous 
growths in winter, because they are dormant, 
though an eye should be kept on drainage for 
excessive irrigation as for excessive rainfall. 
The grape and the pear are known to endure 



How to Grow Them 



133 



^Methods of Irrig-ation 



long submergence, but some other fruits are 
sensitive about it. 

Summer Irkigatiox. — When this shall be- 
gin and when end are to be locally deter- 
mined. In some places even the earliest fruits 
can not reach satisfactory size and quality 
without irrigation. In others rainfall with 
winter irrigation will suffice for proper devel- 
opment of early fruits, but not for late. In 
both cases the fruit may be satisfactory, but 
the tree unable to hold its leaf vigor until the 
work of the growing season is properly com- 
pleted. It is then apparent that local practice 
must vary in order to reach the universal fact, 
and that is that all through its active season 
the tree must have constant and adequate 
moisture supply. Many evils in lack of bear- 
ing, in d3nng-back, in unseasonable activity 
and the like are due to inadequate, intermit- 
tent and, in some cases, to excessive moisture 
in the soil. 



Cultivation and Irrigation. — Although 
the relations of irrigation and cultivation have 
been freely discussed, it must be remarked in 
this connection that with such an extension of 
irrigation practice as is now being realized, 
there is danger that those who have previ- 
ously trusted so fully upon good cultivation 
may swing to the other extreme and trust too 
much to the stream of water and too little to 
the plow and cultivator. There is a tempta- 
tion this way when one finds that he can run 
water in large amounts very cheaply. Not 
only is there danger of over-irrigation in the 
growth of tree and fruit, but the ill effects of 
water upon the soil, when unattended by good 
cultivation, are constantly threatened. The 
tree needs air as well as water; it needs a 
certain free condition of the soil for its best 
root action. These needs can be amply se- 
cured when adequate application of water is 
quickly followed by soil-stirring. Irrigated 
soil rightly treated is delightfully mellow and 
free and of condition to invite the fullest ac- 
tivity on the part of the tree. Irrigated 
ground not properly treated becomes com- 
pacted, fissured, cloddy and generally hateful, 
losing moisture rapidly, setting around the 
roots like cement and tearing them by its sub- 
sequent shrinkage. These conditions do not 
occur on the lighter soils, and yet even these 
are best when cultivated in a rational manner. 



METHODS OF IRRIGATION. 

There are various methods employed in 
California for the conveyance and application 
of water to trees and vines. Some of the 
principal ones will be described. 

As this writing does not pretend to be a 
treatise on irrigation engineering, no attempt 
will be made to describe the more ambitious 
undertaking, which should never be entered 
upon without the engagement of a qualified 
engineer. Nor is it possible to discuss the 
numerous devices which are covered by pat- 
ents. Investment should always be preceded 
by visits to irrigation worljs now in operation, 
and procedure should be guided by observa- 
tion. The hints presented herewith relate 
chieflv to things the irrigator can do for him- 
self. 

Free Flooding. — Flooding — that is, the 
free flow of water over the whole surface, or 
the flow between rows with furrows near the 
trees to retain the water in the interspaces — 
is only employed on some flat lands where 
winter irrigation is used to supplement rain- 
fall when the latter is occasionally below nor- 
mal. In such cases water is available in large 
quantities, and the lay of the land favors quite 
even distribution. Even under these condi- 
tions the experience of growers soon leads to 
the adoption of deep furrows or lateral 
ditches, or some simple check system, as su- 
perior to flooding. Summer flooding is done 
only by those who are unacquainted with bet- 
ter methods or who count their trees of too little 
account to warrant extra eflfort. It seems, 
therefore, a fair conclusion that flooding is 
only resorted to as a temporary expedient and 
has little standing. 

The Check System. — With soils of such 
character that vertical percolation is very 
rapid, flooding in checks, by which water is 
held upon a particular area until it sinks be- 
low the surface, is considered necessary. 
There is a tendency to change from this meth- 
od to a furrow system wherever practicable, 
because the former requires more soil shift- 
ing, a larger head of water for economical 
operation, more labor to handle it, more work- 
ing in water and mud, and more difficult 
cultivation to relevel the land and to reduce a 
|)ud(lled surface to satisfactory tilth. For 
these and other reasons, perhaps, on loams of 



The Check System 



134 



California Fruits 



medium fineness one may find two adjacent 
growers pursuing different methods, while on 
coarse, porous loams the check system pre- 
vails, and on fine, retentive loams the furrow 
system is without a rival. 

The check system can be seen on the most 
extensive scale in the upper part of the San 
Joaquin Valley, where the land is so level and 
the water so abundant that the checks can be 
measured by acres or fractions of acres. In 
its most perfect form it is found in Orange 
County and some parts of Los Angeles 
County, where the checks are measured by 
feet, rarely by rods. Very large checks are 
chiefly used for field crops, although also 
employed for winter irrigation of vineyards 
and orchards of deciduous fruits. With 
fruits, however, even in the same district, the 
tendency is toward using smaller checks care- 
fully leveled before planting. With the large- 
check system permanent levees, either in rec- 
tangular form or on the contour plan, are 
generally used. The small-check system is 
chiefly laid off with temporary levees, quickly 
made with special appliances and as quickly 
worked back to a level as soon as the ground 
dries sufficiently after irrigation, and the 
whole surface kept well cultivated until the 
time arrives for a restoration of the levees for 
the next irrigation. The latter is the leading 
horticultural mode. It is carefully described 
by Air. Sydmer Ross of Fullerton, Orange 
County, California, as follows: 

The check system, as carried out in the best- 
handled orchards, entails much hard work, but after 
you are through with an irrigation you know that 
each and every tree has had its full supply of water 
or you know the reason why. The ground must be 
cultivated, say, about S inches deep, so as to have 
plenty of loose soil with which to throw up a high 
ridge. Then a four or si.x horse "ridger" should be 
/un once each way between the rows, if it is a citrus 
or deciduous orchard, or twice should the trees be 
walnuts, because these trees are grown about 40 
feet apart. After this is done the ridger should be 
run entirely around the outside of the piece to be 
irrigated, so as to have as perfect a ridge as pos- 
sible on the outside. One man will ridge about 15 
acres in a day. The ridger should be built with a 
steel plate extending along the bottom of both sides, 
bolted to the inside and projecting about 2 inches, so 
as to take good hold of the ground. Then with one 
horse attached to what is locally known as a "jump 
scraper." one side of the checks should be closed up. 
for the ridger in making the cross ridges breaks 
down the first ridge at its intersection. These re- 
pairs were at first made with a shovel, but the jump 
scraper, also called locally the "horse shovel," closes 
up the gaps very quickly. Tlie practice generally 



followed is to close up the high side of the checks 
if the land does not cut by running water, but if it 
cuts, close up the lower side. 

After closing up the checks the ditches are plowed 
out and then the V-shaped "crowder" is run twice 
through them. On lands inclined to cut it is ad- 
visable that the length of the rows to be irrigated 
should not be over 250 feet, but in heavy land this 
distance can be considerably increased, if necessary, 
without danger of cutting the ridges by too long a 
run of water. 

If the checks have been closed up on the low side 
of the ridge, it is better to run the water to the ends 
of the ditch and water the last row first ; but if the 
high side has been closed up, it is best to water first 
the row nearest the gate or the main ditch, as the 
case may be, as in each instance dry earth will thus 
be available, if necessary, to close up the checks. 
The water is run down the row to the end tree, and 
as soon as the last check is filled it is closed up, and 
so on till all are filled and closed, when the water is 
turned down the next row. 

To do good work it is usual to allow three men 
for every 50 inches of water, but in our ow'u practice 
we have had much better results by dividing up our 
water and running from 35 to 40 inches to a ditch 
and allowing two men for such streams. In doing 
this we get better work and find it much easier for 
the men. If everything is well in hand, each man 
will irrigate about 30 acres in a day. 

For turning the water from the ditches into the 
checks metal dams or tappoons are used. Some of 
these have a gate for the division of the water when 
the stream is too large and is divided and tw-o rows 
are watered at the same time. The gate is not a 
great success, as the water is apt soon to cut its 
way under the tappoon, but it may be much improved 
by having a shelf for the water to drop on after it 
passes through the opening. The common practice 
for dividing water is to throw a tappoon partly 
across the ditch, putting a gunny sack on the op- 
posite side to prevent cutting by the water. This is, 
on the whole, fully as satisfactory as using the tap- 
poon with a gate. 

All who follow this system should get ready for 
;he water before it comes. A great many seem to 
think that if they ridge up their land, close up the 
checks, and plow out their ditches everything neces- 
sary has been done. Such is not the case, as ditches 
that are liable to cut should be fixed in the weak 
places with brush or burlaps. Old gunny sacks cut 
open and spread out are excellent for this purpose. 
Occasionally there are places where it is impossible 
to get a perfect ridge. These should be looked up 
and fixed with a shovel. The jump scraper will not 
entirely close up a check; it generally requires a 
shovelful or two to complete it. It is usual after 
the water is turned down one row to fix up the 
next one, but it is an excellent plan to have a few 
rows fixed up ahead, for there come times when 
breaks occur and there is not time to make the nec- 
essary repairs, and when water once gets the start 
there is apt to be much trouble and hard work before 
it can be put under control, besides doing poor work. 

After the ground is dry enough to work, the ridges 
are split with a listing plow or a furrower attached 
to a cultivator. Then the ground should be run over 
with a harrow, setting the teeth to go well in, so as 



How to Grow Them 



135 



Home-made Implements 



to pulverize tlie surface thoroughly. By using the 
harrow the ground can be worked about one day 
earlier than with the cultivator, and it also prevents 
the ground from baking till such time as it can be 
worked with the latter implement, besides doing far 
better work than with the cultivator alone, especially 
when there is much land to go over, as some of it is 
certain to get too dry before it can be reached, and 
then it will not pulverize well. All trees should be 
worked around by hand with either a fork or hoe 
as soon after irrigation as the ground becomes dry 
enough and before it becomes hard. 

SPECIFICATIONS FOR HOMEMADE IMPLE- 
MENTS FOR THE Check System. — The fol- 
lowing implements, used in preparing the 
ground for irrigation by the check s\stem, 
were made on the fruit ranch of J. B. Neff, 
Anaheim, California, with the tools ordinarily 
found on a ranch and with but little help from 
the blacksmith : 



rear end of the sides, tapered and braced in 
the manner shown in the cut for the purpose 
of making the ridger firmer at the top. Every 
part of the ridger should be firmly bolted 
with 3-8 inch bolts, except the 1-8 by 2 inch 
iron, which should have 3-16 inch bolts, and 
the sheet iron, which may be put on with 
nails. The hooks on sides for hitching draft 
chain are 3-8 by i 1-2 inches, and the draft 
chain is 3-8 inch cable chain. 

The V-shaped Crowder or Ditcher. — This 
has sides of 2 by 12 inch pine and cross-brace 
of 2 by 9 inch pine. The long side is 7 feet 
8 inches long and short side 3 feet 6 inches 
long. This is also protected by a piece of 
steel or iron extending entirely around the 
ditcher and bolted with 3-16 inch bolts. The 




The "Rid 

For levee making in the check system of 



■igating trees and vines. 



The ridger. — This has sides of 2 by 16 inch 
pine 7 feet long, standing 18 inches apart at 
the rear and 5 feet apart at the front end. 
The sides may be made of two 2 by 8 inch 
pieces with 2 by 3 inch battens bolted on 
securely. The front crossbar is of 2 by 4 
inch pine 6 feet 2 inches long and is set 20 
inches from the end. The rear crossbar is 
of 2 by 4 inch pine 4 feet 4 inches long. It 
is set 7 inches from the end of the sides. The 
diagonal braces are i by 3 inch pine 6 feet 10 
inches long. The short side braces are 2 by 
3 inch pine 15 inches long. The lower in- 
side edge should be protected by a strip of 
steel or iron 1-8 by 2 inches extending to and 
around the front ends, which should be bev- 
eled to a sharp edge. The inside should also 
be lined with sheet iron 6 or 8 inches above 
the 1-8 by 2 inch piece, and should have sheet 
iron pieces extending 16 inches beyond the 



sides come together in a point and stand at an 
angle of 45 degrees. The brace is placed 2 
feet 10 inches from the point on short side 
and 3 feet 10 inches from the point on long 
side. It also has two handles, as shown in 
cut, 3 feet long. These are made of 2 by 3 
inch pine reduced so as to hold conveniently. 
The sloping handle is bolted to the short 
side. When in use this implement stands 
with the short side elevated at an angle of 
alTOut 35 degrees, and a floor is placed in the 
triangular space so that it will be level when in 
use. An ordinary wide clevis is used for the 
draft and is placed as shown in the cut. A 
vertical hole may be made in front of the 
clevis pin and a small rod driven in to 
strengthen the hold of the clevis. 

The Jump Scraper or Horse Shovel. — This 
is used for filling gaps in the ridges and is 



Check and Furrow Combined 



136 



California Fruits 



the work of the hlacksniith. The beams are 
1-4 by I 1-4 inches and 30 inches long from 
draft ring to the bend downward. The 
shovel is of No. 16 sheet iron 24 inches long 
by 18 inches deep. The handles are those 
used on any cultivator. The beams are bent 
to stand 6 inches forward of a square placed 
on top of the beams. The braces are of 3-8 inch 
round iron. The shovel is slightly cupped to 
luake it hold more earth. 



make levees in line with the water, laying 
out the work so as to get the closest approxi- 
mation to a level. When the levees are 
made, the jump scraper is used and the end 
of each third or fourth furrow bank is con- 
nected with the levees at alternating sides of 
the check made by the levees. This causes 
the water to flow through the furrows from 
side to side and distribute itself evenly over 
the whole ground. The number of furrows 




The "Crowder." 

Used ill the preparation for distribution of water 



The Portable, Gate or Tappoon. — These are 
for shutting ditches, and are made of No. 16 
sheet iron 2 feet wide and of any desired 
length, but usually 3 feet, 4 feet, or 3 feet 
long. The corners are cut oi¥ to a circle 
starting about i foot back of the corner. 
The handles are made of two pieces of i by 
3 inch pine 12 inches longer than the gate, 
and are placed one on each side of the sheet 
iron and secured by 1-4 inch bolts. 

The Combined Check .\\d Furrow 
Method. — An effort to escape in some meas- 
ure the puddling of the surface which results 
from allowing water to sink away upon finely 
pulverized soil lies in the direction of break- 
ing up the soil roughly in the bottoms of the 
checks, which facilitates the quick passage of 
the water into the subsoil. This is done by 
running a small plow or three large culti- 
vator teeth attached to a single frame before 
the ridger is used to form the levees. Mr. A. 
D. Bishop of Orange county, California, uses 
a combined furrow and check systeiu as 
shown in the accompanying diagram. He fur- 
rows the land first with a three-tooth furrow- 
er at right angles to the direction in which the 
water is to flow, and then uses the ridger to 



which can be passed before connecting with 
the bank depends upon the slope of the land 
— the nearer level the land the greater the 
distance that can be left between the connec- 
tions and vice versa. In this way the water is 
taken slowly down a grade where it would 




The "Jumper" 

5 by tlie " ridger " li 



the check system. 



flow too rapidly were it admitted to furrows 
in the direction of its flow. 

Another combination of *he check and fur- 
row system is found where the lowest spaces 
of a slope irrigated by furrows are laid ofif in 



How to Grow Them 



137 



The Basin System 



checks to catch the overflow from the furrows 
and compel its percolation at a point which 
would otherwise receive too little water. The 
parts of a furrow system which lie farthest 
from the source of supply are obviously 
least supplied, because long flow can not be 
maintained there without much loss from 
overflow. Holding the water in checks at 
the lower end — usually for two rows of trees 
— is quite a help toward even distribution. 



c. 5^ FURRO'WS jf- _j.. 



gll 



IfwliSi 



^^ ^i:Ciii:iS'*^A3|^^ iSr;.i;Si;;jXiij-Siii;^j tr^iS^'iStttSi;^ ^^ ^ 

g'i" - , _ , _ : , i r --. - -■'r.i.~t;r.7.:':y j BO{'.^ ?' i Ttf .l '^ ..'. r fvE S^ 




Combined check and furrow irrigation. 

Thj: Basix SYSTE^r. — The term basin 
should be restricted to inclosures which do 
not aim at covering the whole surface, but 
only a small area immediately surrounding 
the tree. The check system is clearly a 
more rational and perfect method of flooding. 
When basins were used on ground capable 
of irrigation by the check or furrow systems, 
it was probably due to a misconception which 
has prevailed also in the practice of fertil- 
ization, that the tree derived its chief benefit 
from the soil immediately surrounding and 
beneath its bole, and that distant applica- 
tions were likely to be wasted. Years ago 
it was held that the lateral root extension 
of a tree was equal to the spread of its 
branches, but recent investigations have 
shown that under favorable soil conditions 
the root extension is vastly greater. It is 
not rei--^nable then to restrict water or other 
plant food to the region chiefly occupied with 



the stay roots and not the feeding roots of 
the tree, and it is a frequent observation that 
basined trees do not do so well and that they 
show distress sooner than those under systems 
which secure more complete water distribu- 
tion. 

The basin system may, however, be con- 
ceded these possibilities : ( i ) Trees may 
be grown on hillsides too steep for other 
means of irrigation unless the hillside be pre- 
viously terraced; (2) the basins afford an 
opportunity to use a very small stream of 
water by allowing it to run for a long time 
in each basin, thus making a miniature reser- 
voir at the base of each tree; (3) for young 
trees a small amount of water may sustain 
growth, while with other methods the same 
amount of water would be almost wholly 
lost by evaporation or percolation, or both ; 
(4) the expense of wider application of water 
and the necessary after cultivation is obvi- 
ated. 

In planting on hillsides, terracing is the 
foundation of the basin system. Terraces 
are plowed and scraped out tmtil they have 
width enough to accommodate a line of 
basins and a ditch at the foot of each 
Ijank to supply them. The terraces are 
given a little fall, alternating in direction 
so that the water, starting from the ridge 
above, is dropped through a box, or otherwise 
let down, from the low end of one terrace 
to the high end of the next, and so on until 
the stream reaches the bottom of the slope. 
As a basin is reached it is filled and closed 
and the water sent along to the next and so on. 
As these basins are usually small and shallow 
they are filled two or three times in succession 
at each irrigation. 

Wherever water can be handled in contour 
ditches or furrows, terracing should seldom 
be undertaken for commercial purposes. With 
slopes which do not require terracing, basins 
on the steeper parts are largely made by hand 
labor, after plowing to loosen the whole sur- 
face, and the operation consists in moving the 
earth from the upper side of the tree, so as 
to form a circular levee on the lower side, 
until the tree stands in a level, roundish pan 
as large as can Ije made without too much 
excavation and filling. As the slope becomes 
less the basins enlarge and reach a diameter, 
finally, where the sides can be made by turn- 
ing a small horse or mule around the tree 



Furrow System 



138 



California Fruits : 



with a plow the rim being further raised and 
shaped by hand so as to liold 3 inches or 
more of water without danger of breaking 
away. 

The basins are filled with a small stream 
by ditch or hose or pipe line, according to the 
ground and notion of the irrigator. They are 
filled at such intervals as the water supply 
admits or the growth seems to need. The 
basin bottom is rarely disturbed. The crack- 
ing soil is finally given another dose of water 
to close up its wounds ; meantime the frequent 
surface soaking puddles the soil and the con- 
dition unfavorable to growth arrives sooner 
or later, according to the disposition of the 
soil to run together by water settling. Dry- 
ing and cracking is lessened by filling the 
basin with manure or rotten straw or other 
light rubbish, or by a layer of coarse sand 
on the bottom. As the tree grows the foliage 
shades the basin and thus reduces evaporation. 




Board flume and furrow irrigation at FuUerton. 

Thk Furrow System. — The furrow sys- 
tem is the prevailing method of irrigating 
fruit lands except with some soils which can 
be better handled with less water by the check 
system. Tlie furrow system has, however, 
a very marked theoretical advantage in the 
escape from saturating the surface soil, which 
has to dry out agair. before it can be culti- 
vated, and it is only with difficulty reduced to 
fine tilth after such puddling. Another ad- 
vantage is in saving the water used in moist- 
ening soil which has to be dried by evapora- 
tion. Other theoretical advantages lie in the 
even distribution of the water with the least 
displacement of the soil and the introduction 



of the water to the subsoil, where deep-root- 
ing plants should derive their chief suste- 
nance. It is becoming quite clear that all these 
theoretical advantages have not been realized 
by the furrow system as generally practiced, 
and a number of modifications are now being 
introduced which promise their fuller reali- 
zation. The changes now taking place tend 
toward reducing the difference between what 
are known as the "large-furrow" and the 
"small-furrow" methods, because the improve- 
ment lies chiefly in introducing the water 
more deeply in the soil, as will be shown later, 
and this is done by using fewer and deeper 
furrows. 

Irrigating by Large Furrows. — Where one to 
four furrows are used, these are large fur- 
rows, while the small-furrow system uses 
from five to eight or more between two rows 
of trees. Large furrows are made with the 
double-moldboard plow, or with a single plow 
followed by the '"crowder," or by plowing 
out dead furrows betweeii the rows, etc. 
Their number depends upon the size of the 
trees and the fitness of the soil for lateral 
seepage. They are wide enough and deep 
enough to carry or hold a large stream of 
water and is a method used chiefly for winter 
irrigation on land which is so nearly level 
that the water will flow slowly into the fur- 
rows and stand there until it disappears by 
percolation. It is also used where one or 
two summer irrigations are all that are re- 
quired to carry the trees through. It is 
obviously adapted only to land of slight and 
uniform grade. Irrigation by a single fur- 
row cut near to the row of trees is a widely 
prevalent method with young trees. When 
the trees are larger, or when intercultures 
are undertaken, the large furrows are mul- 
tiplied. In this case the water is admitted 
to the furrows from a board flume. Large 
furrows are often used in a bearing orchard, 
the furrows being filled from a lateral ditch, 
this lateral being parallel to the main ditch. 
In this case the board dam is used to divert 
the lateral into one large furrow after 
another, and when the furrow is filled dirt 
is thrown in to prevent the reflow of the 
water into the lateral. 

The great variety in large furrow practice 
is suggested in the foregoing. A systematic 
manner of proceeding is that of Mr. .\. Trost, 
of Palermo, Cal., as described by himself : 



How to Grow Them 



139 



Irrigating- b}- Large Furrows 



The soil is red. gravelly clay, the upper 12 inches 
witliout rocks ; below this the gravel is more rocky. 
At the depth of 3 or 4 feet the red clay changes into 
a whitish one and water enters it very slowly. My 
orchard is 12 acres — 1,120 feet long from north to 
south and 510 feet from east to west. The northeast 
corner is the highest. Here the water ditch enters, 
and I run my head ditch along the east side from 
north to south. There are 51 rows of trees in that 
direction, the north and south outside rows being 
olives. There are 23 orange trees in the row from 
east to west and i olive tree on the west end. All 
trees are 20 feet apart. I use 24 miner's inches per 



out running any oflf, and lose only the evaporation. 
The whole amount of water used is 120 inches, equal 
to 10 inches or 130.000 gallons per acre, or 4.5 acre- 
inches or 1,200 gallons per tree. 

I irrigate about every four weeks, running the 
water five days and turning it on again three weeks 
after it is taken off. I have irrigated as early as the 
1st of April and as late as the middle of October, 
depending on late rains in spring and early rains in 
fall ; usually from five to six irrigations per year. 
After four or five days I cultivate 14 feet wide be- 
tween the trees from 6 to 8 inches deep; for this I 
use a 7-foot cultivator and four horsea. Near the 










Large furrow. 



nge trees at Palermo. Biiti 



day for 5 days in the following manner ; 1 use 4 
furrows about 5 or 6 inches deep and aliout 3 feet 
apart between rows, leaving the furrows nearest the 
trees from S to 6 feet from the trunks. The 4 lower 
rows on the west side I cross furrow with 2 furrows 
betw-een the trees. I divide the 24 inches into 51 
equal streamlets by using one gate for each 4 rows. 
First turn this amount in the furrow south nearest 
to tree. When the water has moved to the olive 
tree, I divide the water between the 4 furrows for 
the lower 6 trees and through the cross furrows. 
The next morning I divide the water at the tenth 
tree for the 4 furrows. On the third day I let only 
one-half the water go down in the furrow south of 
tree, the other in the one north nearest to tree. On 
the fourth day I turn part of it in the middle fur- 
rows near the head ditch, and by the fifth day I have 
my place equally wet from one end to the other, 
taking care that the top soil near the trunks of trees 
remains dry on the surface. I keep the soil around 
the trunks of the trees about 2 inches higher for a 
width of 3 feet. In this way I use all the water with- 



trunk of the tree I w'Ork about 2 inches deep and a 
little farther away 4 inches deep, using the three- 
cornered orchard plow with a cultivator 4 feet wide 
and two horses. 

Irrigating by Large Furrows Without Suin- 
mer Cultivation. — .\n exception to the continu- 
ou.s cultivation of orchard ground which is 
prevalent in the irrigated regions of the Pacific 
coast is found in the foothills of the Sierra 
Nevada in California, where furrows are made 
at the beginning of each irrigating season and 
used continuously during that summer. The 
ensuing vv'inter plowing and early spring culti- 
vation are relied upon to keep the soil in good 
condition, .■\lthough this constitutes an ex- 
ception and the practice is widely followed 
for what seems to the growers of the region 
to be good and sufficient reason, it does not 



Zigzag Ditches 



140 



California Fruits 



militate against the truth of the continuous 
summer cultivation policy which elsewhere pre- 
vails, nor does it follow that this policy would 
not be better in some respects even in the region 
where it is abandoned. It is a district of very 
"large water supply, and the arrangements of 
the water company are such that the grower 
must pay for a certain number of inches 
of water by the year and is entitled to this 
amount of continuous tiovv. He has to use 
it or neglect it as it flows, and can not get 



company collects monthly. The purchaser can not 
start the season with little and increase at pleasure, 
except upon payment for the full season on the basis 
of the largest amount used at any time. 

With this constant supply we use it constantly, 
piping to high points and moving it from place to 
place. When no fruit is ripening it is attempted to 
water a block of trees in twenty-four hours. The 
water is not checked back, but is run in ditches, 
mostly in one, but occasionally in two, along each 
row of trees or vines. When a variety of fruit is 
ripening more water is given the trees, while after 
a variety is picked and before any other is nearly ripe 
the effort is made to water each tree every ten or 




NEARLY LEVEL 



Zigzag ditches. 



more at one time by not using it at another. 
For this reason he has not the motive for 
close observation which prevails under other 
conditions, and to escape the cost of summer 
cultivation and fresh furrowing out he has 
recourse to frequent flov^^s in the old furrows. 
The following interesting account of the pre- 
vailing method was prepared by Mr. W. R. 
Fountain, of Newcastle: 



Water is supplied almost exclusively by one com- 
pany, which has met requirements up to date and 
seems fixed to supply in excess of demand. It is sup- 
plied by the miner's inch ; price $45 per inch per sea- 
son for a constant supply. The inch is measured 
under 6-inch pressure. 

Beginning May I, five months is called the irrigat- 
ing season, but the purchaser can have the water 
twelve months per annum if he wants it. The water 



twelve days. Level land and low spots stand a good 
chance, as a rule, to get too much water, and a larger 
stream is used per row to force the water through 
quickly. Then it is taken off in a shorter time than 
it would be where the trees are on a side-hill and 
have good drainage. 

About I inch for each 8 acres is generally used. 
This is for deciduous fruits. The citrus fruits and 
berries require watering about once a week; if there 
is good drainage they would prosper if watered every 
three days. In such ground I have not heard of 
their getting either too much water or too much fer- 
tilizer. The general practice is to plow, cross plow, 
and then after each rain cultivate, with no cultiva- 
tion whatever after beginning the use of water. I 
think an occasional cultivation after watering would 
help. 

There is a tendency for the ditches to become 
packed after water has been flowing through them 
for some time, in which case but little water soaks 
into the ground. When this occurs. I dig a pot-hole 
in the ditch to allow the water to soak in, or else 



How to Grow Them 



141 



Irrio-ating by Small Furrows 



loosen the ground about the trees with a spade and 
carry the ditch through this loosened ground. I 
block out my ditches so that I can get my stream 
through to the last tree in about sixteen hours. 
Where the water has not reached the end of some 
of the ditches, I turn the water into it from a stream 
that is flush, and by keeping a man with a hoe con- 
stantly with the water. I manage to get it over 
the held at about 4 p. m. I wet about 350 trees in a 
block on hillsides ; on a flat I wet less, using more 
water in each stream, and changing it about every 
twelve hours instead of every twenty-four hours. 
My trees grow about 130 to an acre. 

Systematic Distribution of Water on Hill- 
sides. — The common method of carrying 
water in pipes to the various high points 
of several slopes or "irrigation faces" from 
which it can be admitted to large furrows 
crossing or descending those faces is open 
to some difficulties and disarrangements. P. 
\\". Butler, of Penryn, has had in successful 
operation for several years a system of 
zigzag ditches for carrying and distributing 
and for catching outflow and redistribut- 
ing on a lower face. This is also a system 
which makes ditches and furrows but once 
a year and dispenses with suminer cultivation. 
Mr. Butler's account, as illustrated by the 
accompanying diagrams, is as follows : 

The amount of water generally used in this section 
for the irrigation of deciduous fruit trees is 1 inch 
to 5 acres of orchard (miner's inch under 6-inch 
pressure), and is applied to each row of trees by 
one stream of water of sufficient quantity to just 
reach the end of the row. Much of the water is thus 
wasted because of inability to properly adjust its 
distribution. It is usually run twenty-four hours, 
then changed to other parts of the orchard until the 
whole is covered, which takes about three weeks" 
time, when the process is repeated, continuing 
throughout the summer, or from May i until October 
I. There is no cultivation in the meantime, and at 
each irrigation the water is run in the same ditches. 
This system is followed in nearly all the orchards 
of Penryn and vicinity, some on quite steep hill- 
sides, which suffer when, the water is thus applied. 

1 have never liked this method, and for many years 
have used a different system in irrigating all or- 
chards over which I have had control. In my home 
orchard I have a reservoir on the highest land, from 
which water can be conveyed as desired to every 
part. My ditches are run on a grade with a fall from 

2 to 3 inches to the rod and from 5 to 8 feet apart. 
At each irrigation the water is run about thirty-six 
hours before changing. The round of the orchard 
is made in ten to fourteen days. None of my small 
ditches exceeds 400 feet in length. When I begin to 
irrigate a section I turn on from the reservoir water 
sufficient to cover that section in a few hours, then 
lessen it until it just reaches the end of each row. 
but see that it reaches the end of each row even if 
a little surplus passes over. This surplus I take up 
in a main ditch, to be again used on lower ground. 



This is continued until the lowest part of the or- 
chard is reached, and very little water is ever wasted. 
By running on a grade that is so nearly level the 
water is applied uniformly, even on the driest parts 
of the hill slopes. I run the main distributing ditches 
in a zigzag manner, taking water from tfiese ditches 
to cover the lower sections. I formerly used pipes 
to lead the water down the steepest grades, but this 
system I have abandoned and now use open zigzag 
ditches for mains. From the main zigzag ditches I 
do not take the water at the turning point, as there 
is more liability of breaka.ge than if taken when run- 
ning straight, or at whatever point is necessary to 
keep the distributing ditches on an average of 8 feet 
apart. The length of the zigzag ditches varies ac- 
cording to the slope of the hillside. When steep, the 
ditch, before turning, must be of greater length than 
where the ground is more level. (See diagram.) 
I use no gates, but bush the openings with coarse 
swale hay. I also bush the turning points of ditches, 
as they- are in permanent use throughout the season, 
and after the first few days' use require but little 
care to keep them in order. These ditches are torn 
up during the season of cultivation and have to be 
renewed every year. 

I use a level set on a frame 8.25 feet long and 
about 2.5 feet high (one leg longer than the other) 
to make any grade desired (fig. 7). Then I drag 
its length on the ground after getting the level, and 
can mark the line of ditch nearly half as fast as a 
man can walk. 

During the last ten years I have used many thou- 
sand feet of pipe in irrigating, but have found it too 
expensive to be practicable, and it frequently gets 
clogged, causing much trouble. The zigzag method 
of taking the water down hills on the dry ridges, 
distributing to right and left, picking it up again in 
zigzag ditches at the end of the rows or system, to 
be used again on lower ground, brings into use the 
largest quantity where it is most needed and utilizes 
it all without waste. 



Handy level. 

For locating large furrows in hillside irrigation. 

Irrigating by Small Furrows. — It has already 
been suggested that recently the small furrow 
method of irrigation is undergoing certain 
modifications. The occasion for the change 
is that in certain of the heavier soils, par- 
ticularly, the use of water in many shallow 
furrows followed by cultivation results in the 
formation of a compact layer, and this pre- 
vents the percolation of the water into the 
subsoil. This discovery led many Southern 



Chang-es in Furrow System 



142 



California Fruits 



growers to resort to fewer and deeper fur- 
rows and to new devices to enable the tree to 
get the benefit of the water. There has been 
wide use of the subsoil plow, with a wedge- 
shaped foQt attached to a slim standard rising 
to the ordinary beam. The standard op- 
poses its thin edge to the soil so as to cleave 
it with the least difficulty, and the foot, pass- 
ing through or beneath the hardpan, lifts and 
breaks it. The result of the subsoiling is 
to open a way for the water to sink and 
spread below the hardpan. It is usual to run 
this plow once through the center of the in- 
terspace between the rows of trees, sometimes 



The handling of the water in the orchard has ma- 
terially changed in recent years. Instead of flooding 
up, basining, or using shallow furrows, deep furrows, 
from 3 to 5 feet apart, are most generally used. In 
heavy adobe soils more furrows are used than in the 
more porous granite soils. The most usual length 
of furrows is 40 rods. Every precaution is taken to 
have the surface wetted as little as possible. 

The amount of water run at a time is materially 
lessened. Formerly the common practice was to run 
3 inches per acre for twenty-four hours each thirty 
days. Now. 2 inches continuous run for seventy-two 
hours is found to serve a much better purpose, ex- 
cept on loose soils. The general practice in the val- 
ley is to irrigate once each thirty days. A few of 
the most careful orchardists had found that by in- 
tellia;ent and thorough manipulation of tlie soil they 




Newer system of furrow irrigation at Riverside, Cal. 



at right angles to the irrigation furrows. 
When this is done the water is admitted to 
the furrows as usual, but instead of flowing 
along smoothly it drops into the track of the 
subsoiler and runs there a long time before 
rising again to continue its course down the 
furrow. It is the experience of some growers 
that the water has taken five or six days to 
reach the lower end of the furrows, a distance 
which would have been covered in twenty- 
four hours if the subsoiler had not intervened. 
This has been shown to result in much water 
for the subsoil and a notable invigoration of 
trees which had been famishing, although 
shallow-furrow irrigation had proceeded regu- 
larly. 

Recent changes in the furrow method at 
Riverside, California, are described by Mr. J. 
H. Reed as follows : 



obtained as favorable results from the application of 
water every sixty days or more, using the same 
amount as they formerly did at intervals of half that 
time. The writer has watched with much interest an 
eight-year-old orchard that during the three years 
preceding the present received in all but ten irriga- 
tions, the usual amount of water being used only at 
each four irrigations the first year and three irriga- 
tions each the second and third years, with results 
comparing favorably with those on trees of the same 
age on the same soil in neighboring orchards that 
received the ordinary thirty-day irrigations. While 
there are few orchardists who have the skill and pa- 
tience required to secure such results, they show the 
possibilities of improved cultivation in conserving 
moisture. So long as water is abundant and not ex- 
pensive, more frequent irrigations will probably be 
generally practiced ; but the advantage of running 
the water slowly for a longer time, in furrows as 
deep as possible, covering the saturated bottoms as 
soon as practicable and keeping the surface perfectly 
pulverized and in loose condition, is being generally 
recognized. 



How to Grow Them 



143 



Pipes and Flumes 



The usual practice is now to have 6 deep 
furrows in 20-foot spaces. The number varies 
according to the character of the soil, but is 
in any case less than in the small, shallow 
furrow system which formerly prevailed. 

The recourse to deeper furrows and to the 
subsoil plowing has been made in several cit- 
rus fruit districts of Southern California. 
Its success depends upon conditions. There 
are cases in which too deep use of the sub- 
soiler has admitted the water at a point too 
low for best results to the tree which grows on 
a leachy subsoil, and the cutting of roots by 
the subsoiler has in some cases brought shal- 



Similar machinery is used for the construc- 
tion of continuous cement pipe, which is re- 
placing open laterals in carrying water from 
main ditches to the land of individual irrigat- 
ors. This pipe is made by a machine con- 
structed by two Riverside men who are both 
machinists and practical orchardists. Sand 
and barrels of cement are distributed along 
the line ahead of the machine, as shown in 
the background of the picture. The mixing 
is done in flat boxes, each being carried for- 
ward when emptied. One of the lines of large 
rubber hose conveys steam to the head of the 
cvlinder of the machine and the other returns 




The V-shaped "Crowder" and Metal Dams or "Tapoons. 



low-rooting trees into temporary distress. 
The general conclusion, however, is that 
deeper introduction of water favors deeper 
rooting ind is very economical of water by 
preventing the loss by evaporation from the sur- 
face, wf ich, theoretically, is dry, but which ac- 
tually. ^ ;ith shallow furrows over an irrigation 
hardpan, becomes too often saturated over 
nearly (he whole space between the trees. 

Cem mt Pipes and Flumes for the Furrow 
SysteiJ/. — The use of cement in the construc- 
tion cf flumes has largely increased because, 
by m;ans of locally devised machinery, con- 
tinuous cement flume has been cheapened so 
that its first cost is less than that of lumber 
llumi' where suitably durable lumber is high. 



the spent steam. The mixed cement and 
sand is carried to the feeding box (shown in 
vertical position in the trench), from which 
it is dropped into the steel pipe form below. 
Steam pressure is then brought to bear upon 
it and then cut off by the lever; loose earth is 
throv.'n around the steel forming-cylinder as 
it moves forward and is fanned by the operat- 
or's feet ready to sustain the walls of the 
new pipe as the cylinder is withdrawn from 
it. More loose earth is thrown over the new 
pipe, which is allowed to harden before the 
trench is filled. 

Continuous cement flume is made in a sim- 
ilar manner, the machine working on the sur- 
face and the required pressure being given 



Board Flume Furrow Svsteui 



144 



California Fruits : 



by a strong lever instead of by steam power. 
Instead of a cylindrical form, one to properly 
shape the flume is used. After this form is 
moved and before the cement hardens, grooves 
are made at intervals in the side walls to 
insert board dams to raise the water so that it 
will flow out of zinc tubes with gates, which 
are also put in place while the cement is 
plastic. Not only is such flume sometimes 
cheaper than board flumes, as stated above, 
but annoyance of leaking and cost of exten- 
sive repairs are done av^-ay with. 

The Board Flume and the Furrow System. — 
Althoue;h in the older regions the cement 



level. It should be placed about two-thirds ui the 
ground at the commencement, and, as soon as it 
conies out of the ground to about two-thirds of its 
height, there should be a drop made of I, 2, or 3 
inches, if necessary, and then carried along as be- 
fore, so as to keep the entire length of flume prac- 
tically on a level. 

Sixteen-foot lumber is better than longer, as it is 
lighter to handle. I prefer 8-inch sides with 18-inch 
bottom, or, in some cases. lo-inch sides with 16- 
inch bottom. The first section, however, should be 
about 2 feet wide, narrowed to the size of the flume, 
so as to control the streain. Collars should be put 
around the flume every 8 feet of distance ; that is, 
one in the center and one to cover the joints at each 
end. These collars should be 2 by 3 inch stuff on the 
bottotn and sides and i by 3 inches on top. This 




Irrigation ol trait trees by large furrows between rows. 



flume is advancing in popularity, important 
service will always be rendered by the home- 
made board flume where suitable lumber is 
cheap. A detailed account of its construc- 
tion and operation will be widely useful. The 
following is contributed by Mr. A. S. Brad- 
ford of Orange county : 

I consider the board flume best because it is 
in many places cheapest and because it will last fif- 
teen or twenty years in California if made of good 
soft redwood. The common redwood lumber is gen- 
erally so, but the so-called flume lumber is hard, 
generally, and will warp the flume out of shape. 
Even in the common redwood lumber hard pieces 
will be found, and these should be avoided. My 
first flume has been in use nine years and is ap- 
parently as good as ever. 

The first thing to be considered is getting a flume 
put in properly, as this alone will cause much trouble 
if not done right. A flume should run nearly on a 



makes a strong, durable flume. The length of the. 
flume should be divided, so that the stream will de- 
crease as it goes along. The width should be de- 
creased also, say from 16 inches to 14, 12, 10, and 8 
inches, the sides being the same throughout or re- 
duced so as to have lo-inch sides on the 16-inch 
bottom and 8-inch sides on the rest, nailed to the 
side of the bottom, making 7 inches depth inside. 
Two-inch holes should be about 30 inches apart and 
2-inch gates placed on the inside instead of outside, 
as they will collect less trash, the hole through the 
wood, if uncovered, making a lodgment for leaves, 
etc. In the narrow and flat flume it is much easier 
to fix the gates. 

Frotn 8 to g furrows for trees set 24 feet apart is 
sufficient. The streams should be run from one- 
eighth to one-half the capacity of the holes in the 
flume, according to the soil and fall of ground. I 
commence the streain small and increase it if nec- 
essary later on. The streams should be kept as near 
together as possible, and when the end is reached the 
gate should be nearly closed down, so as to allow the 
stream to just trickle to the end. In this manner the 



How to Grow Them 



145 



Storage of Water 



soil will become thoroughly wet from one end to the 
other. The streams should be run very slowly on 
most of our soils. A great many failures have been 
made on hard soils by running the stream too large 
and then reducing it. This seems to "slick" or ce- 
ment the soil so that it will not take the water, and 
the consequence is a poor and unsatisfactory irri- 
gation. On the other hand, if the streams are 
started small and allowed to soak the ground as 
they go along, it is simply astonishing how much 
water can be put in the ground. On sandy soils the 



season will nearly pay for the flume by which one 
man can do the irrigating. Two horses will furrow 
out 10 acres in half a day, and a little hand labor at 
the flume will connect the furrows. In the check 
system generally a disk is run first where the ridges 
are to be made, and then the ridger is run with 4 
horses ; then the jump scraper is run to stop up one side 
of the blocks ; then ditches must be made ; then from 
2 to 3 men are required to handle the water by shut- 
ting up the checks when filled. Afterwards the 
ridges must be plowed down before the ground can 




Continuous cement flume witli weirs to raise water to outlet tubes. 



streams should be larger. A little practice would 
give any one the desired information. 

About three rows of trees at the lower end should 
be blocked up. provided one has no place where the 
overflow water could be used. This last provision 
is the better, however, as there would be only about 
ID inches of water run over the last three or four 
hours, and a thorough job would be done from one 
end to the other. 

In making furrows I have an extension made for 
my cultivator to bolt on each side and use four 
plows. With this extension I can wet the whole 
ground thoroughly. The furrows will extend under 
the limbs of the trees, and by making a slight curve 
around each tree the ground will become wet in the 
rows as well as between. 

As compared with the check system, the furrow 
method, properly handled, makes the soil light and 
loose, while the check system is apt to pack the soil, 
rendering it lifeless and leaving it so that it will not 
retain moisture long. Besides, the cost of ridging 
and extra labor in handling water in checks for one 



be harrowed and got in condition to cultivate. At a 
glance one can see that it costs fully three times as 
much to irrigate by the check system as by the fur- 
row system, and with the latter the soil acts more as 
it does after a rain. 

DEVELOPMENT AND STORAGE OF 
WATER. 

It is, obviously, beyond the limitations of 
this work to attempt an extended review of 
irri.gation enterprises and practices. The en- 
terprises undertaken by capitalists, or by co- 
operation among settlers, require the services 
of competent engineers. All these matters 
are too great in extent and variety to be dis- 
cussed in this work. As, however, it has 
been the aim of the writer to aid the inex- 
perienced ^planter to help himself in small 



Irrigating Ditches 



146 



California Frnits 



efiforts, a little space will be given to sug- 
gestions as to how a planter may develop and 
use such small water supply as may be de- 
rived from spring, small creek or well, on his 
own land without employing an engineer. 

Running Lines for Irrigating Ditches. 
— How far to go up a creek in order to bring 
water out upon a given piece of land is a 
question which frequently arises in individual 
practice. There is also doubt as to how 



To stake out this line when no special 
hindrances are in the way, use a home-made 
leveling instrument constructed as follows : 

With sound, straight-edged hrniber a triangle is 
made, as indicated in the sketch. The three pieces, 
A B, 6 feet long, B C, 12 feet long, and C A, 4 feet 
long, are made fast to each other at A, B, and C. 
The board, A D. is fastened to the triangle at right 
angles to B C. Near A, on the board, A D, a plumb- 
line is made fast. The plumb, like a mason's plumb, 
bangs in a hole at F, so that when A D '\s vertical, 
the string hangs very near the surface of the board, 
A D. 




A homemade leveling instrument. 



much fall should be given to the ditch. The 
fall required by a ditch or canal depends 
upon the amount of water which it is desired 
that it should discharge, and upon the width 
and depth with which it is intended that the 
water should flow. It may also be depend- 
€nt upon the character of the soil in which 
the ditch is to be constructed, and upon the 
peculiarities of the water itself. A strong 
current in soft soil may cause mischievous 
erosions. Water carrying much sediment 
must never be allowed to move sluggishly, 
as clear water sometimes may. It is best to 
state the requirements to a competent engin- 
eer and act on his suggestion, or secure the 
counsel of a neighbor who has had experi- 
ence with similar soil and water. 

Having decided what fall to give the ditch, 
the nearest point at which water can be taken 
out of the creek to be brought to a certain 
piece of land is found by commencing with 
the point at which the water is to be delivered 
(generally the highest point of the land to be ir- 
rigated), and running up stream a line which 
has the inclination intended for the ditch. 



It will be seen that when A D \s exactly vertical, 
S C is exactly horizontal, if the angles at D are 
true right angles. An ordinary carpenter's square 
used in the construction of the apparatus will insure 
sufficient accuracy in the position of A D. 

In marking on the board, A D, however, the line 
in which the string of the plumb will hang when 
B C is exactly horizontal, more care is required. 
Two pegs are driven, as far apart as B and C, fpr 
these points to rest on. The highest one is driven 
into the ground until the plumb-line follows about 
the center line of the board, A D. Having marked 
this position of the plumb-line, the triangle is re- 
versed so that the end B rests on the peg where be- 
fore we had the end C. and vice versa. Should the 
plumb-line be in a position at variance with the first 
one marked on the board, then the correct position 
for the B C horizontal will be exactly in the middle 
between the two found by the aid of the two pegs. 

It will frequently be found convenient to have a 
scale of feet marked off on B C. Holes in the pieces 
A B and C A aX E E, or handles, will make the tri- 
angle convenient to carry. Only two men are nec- 
essary in using it. 

To use this instrument for locating the 
Hne of the ditch, calculate the amount which 
your line should rise betweeti each two pegs. 
Drive a peg at the starting point with its top say 
six inches from the general surface of the 



How to Grow Them 



147 



Storing Water 



ground. Hold one end of the leveling ap- 
paratus above this peg by exactly that 
amount which the line rises per each instru- 
ment-length (B C), and swing the other end 
around into the direction from which the 
ditch is to come, until, when level, it is just 
six inches above the ground. Drive a peg 
here, which will, like the first, be six inches 
high, and proceed as before. Care should be 
taken to give the top of each peg exactly the 
correct elevation. The level must be hori- 



end has exactly the same elevation from the 
ground as the top of the peg. At this point 
drive a second peg and proceed as before. 
If the tops of the pegs be chosen as the height 
of the levee, they may be retained as grade 
stakes as well as line stakes for the embank- 
ment. 

Storing Water from Sm.vll Sources. — 
For "individual uses quite a respectable water 
supply can sometimes be developed from ap- 




Starting with the "Jump Scraper" to close a row of gates. 



zontal when resting on any peg, and raised 
exactly that amount which the line rises per 
level-length, above the preceding peg. It 
will be found convenient to use a carefully- 
prepared block to hold on the top of each 
stake at the rear end of the level instead of 
trusting to measurement each time. 

Locating Contour Lines for Checks or 
FOR Distributing Ditches. — This work can 
be done with the aid of the level above de- 
scribed. For instance, to locate a contour 
(a line of equal elevation), as required in the 
construction of a check levee, drive a peg 
until its top has a convenient elevation from 
the ground, say one foot. Rest one end of 
the triangle on this peg and swing the other 
around until when B C is horizontal this other 



parently mean sources. This can be done 
by clearing out and opening up hillside 
springs, and often by tunneling into the 
hillside to intercept subterranean water-flows, 
or by pumping from a well. Even a small 
spring, yielding but two quarts per second, 
would be sufficient to irrigate several acres 
in fruit trees. To derive the greatest benefit 
from small springs, however, a reservoir is 
necessary, in which the flow of twelve ta 
twenty-four hours, or even a longer period, 
can be accumulated, and then discharged as 
required. It is by using water in driblets 
that many springs are wasted. A 
spring supplying even one and a half inches 
of water would be wholly swallowed up by 
a thirsty soil within two hundred feet of its 
source, when, by arresting the flow and ac- 



How to Grow Tliem 



148 



Lifting- Water from Stream 



cumulating it in a reservoir and discharging 
at intervals in a volume four times as large, 
it would more than cover eiglit times the sur- 
face. A spring flowing two quarts per second 
will discharge forty-three thousand two hun- 
dred gallons in twenty-four hours. This 
would require a reservoir forty by twenty 
feet, and seven feet deep, or double that width 
if the depth is decreased one-half. The shal- 
lower it can be made the better, for many rea- 
sons, but especially on account of the temper- 
ature of the water. That of springs is gener- 
ally too low in summer for immediate use, 
and its value is greatly enhanced by being 
raised to an equal or greater temperature than 
that of the air. This is quickly done by ex- 
posure in a shallow pond. A reservoir can be 
constructed entirely in the ground where the 
slope will admit of it, and by lining the bot- 
tom and sides with clay well puddled, will an- 
swer for most purposes. Some are built of 
adobe, backed with earth and plastered on the 
inner side with hydraulic cement. Concrete 
of lime, sand, and broken stone, is, however, 
the best material, where lime can be readily 
obtained, and any person with ordinary me- 
chanical skill can construct them. The fol- 
lowing hints on a dirt reservoir may be sug- 
gestive : 

A reservoir should be built on the highest part of 
the tract sought to be irrigated by scraping the earth 
from the outside and from such a large area as not 
to affect the utility of the land from which it is taken. 
With a levee all around 5 feet high, 4 feet of water 
could be carried safely. The slopes ought to be two 
to one on the inside. A reservoir 20 feet square and 
4 feet deep would hold 12.000 gallons. With the 
slopes as above the reservoir should be measured 2 
feet from the bottom, or half way up the 4 feet of 
water; consequently to lay out a reservoir to hold 
12,000 gallons, put the stakes 12 feet square and 
build. For any other sized one take 8 feet off the 
same as in this. A reservoir 25 feet square will hold 
18,750 gallons and would be 17 feet square at the 
bottom; one 30 feet square would hold 27,000 gallons 
and would be 22 feet at the bottom ; one 35 feet 
square — 27 at the bottom — will hold 36.000 gallons; 
one 40 feet square — 32 on the bottom — will hold 48.- 
000 gallons. This spread upon the surface of an acre 
would be a little more than i 3-4 inches of rainfall. 

Almost any loam soil will hold water with a little 
puddling. The cheapest way to puddle is to build a 
pen the size of the intended reservoir, including at 
least a portion of that to be under the embankment, 
wet it very wet, put some hogs in the pen and keep 
feeding them barley, a little at a time, so as to make 
them not only walk around but root for the barley. 
A half sack of barley fed to eight or ten hungry 
hogs in half a day will make a good puddle. If 
it did not work satisfactorily the water could be 



taken off and the bottom covered about an inch deep 
with coarse sand mi.xed one part to five with Port- 
land cement, put in dry, and let it be covered slowly. 
A barrel of cement may be counted at about 4 cubic 
feet and with the mi.xture above would cover the 
first-named reservoir about I 3-4 inches. This would 
make it tight. The supply pipe should come up from 
the bottom, so that the lift would never be more than 
the height of the surface. 

Loss OF Water by Seep.\ge. — The great 
loss of water by seepage during a long run 
has led to the cementing of ditches, and to the 
use of miles of large wooden, concrete and 
iron pipe by the irrigation companies of South- 
ern California ; also, where the slope is rapid, 
paving ditches with rock has been resorted 
to. Similar efforts naturally suggest them- 
selves to the user of a small water supply to 
save his flow from loss. The lining of ditches 
to prevent seepage is being tested by the Cali- 
fornia Experiment Station at Berkeley, and 
publication of results is being made. Where 
lumber is cheap the use of a hoard flume is 
an available means of saving water, when the 
soil is coarse and leachy. 




Jsi^iL^N^^^a 



End view of irrigating wheel. 

Irrigation from Flowing Wells. — A con- 
siderable area of orchard is irrigated from 
flowing wells in different parts of the state. 
Nearly everywhere in the artesian districts 
there are local well-borers who have kept rec- 
ords of the strata traversed in their work and 
can estimate closely the cost of securing water 
by this method. 

Lifting Water from Flowing Ditch or 
Stream. — Where a streain has a rapidity of 
two miles or more per hour, and a lift to a 
height of six to sixteen feet will give head 
enough to distribute the water over a consid- 



How to Grow Them 



149 



Pumping for Irrigation 



erable area, there is nothing cheaper than the 
current wheel which is largely used in this 
State. The engraving gives an end view of 
such a wheel. Eight pairs of arms, carrying 
flat buckets like those of a steamboat paddle- 
wheel, extend from a hub rotating on metal 
bearings. At either end or both ends of each 
bucket are fixed wooden or tin water boxes 
which fill themselves on entering the water, 
and on being brought to the highest point of 
rotation empty themselves into a receiving 
trough. This trough supplies the distributing 



At the Fancher Creek Nursery, in Fresno 
County, a wheel is used eighteen feet in di- 
ameter, and carries sixteen buckets, which 
empty into a trough si.xteen feet above the 
ditch. The wheel lifts about one cubic foot 
in two seconds. 

PUMPING FOR IRRIGATION. 

The use of pumps for irrigation is continually 
increasing. The capacity of pumps, their ease 
and cheapness of operation in this land of oil 




Use of honn.-madc ridfjcr, orange orchard of A. D. Bishop, 
Orange County, Cal. 



ditches, etc., and its inner end is so placed 
that it comes under the projecting buckets of 
the wheel without interference with the mo- 
tion of the arms. The current of water in the 
channel underneath forces the buckets down 
stream, the latter delivering in the opposite 
direction at the top. By using a double set 
of boxes, one at each end of each bucket, the 
water may be delivered on both sides simul- 
taneously. A little experimenting will indi- 
cate the proper size of the boxes, which de- 
pends upon the velocity and volume of water 
in the channel as well as the amount to be 
delivered. 



wells and of ponderous waterfalls whose power 
can be transformed into electric energy, warrant 
the conclusion that in many places water can 
he lifted from below more cheaply than it can 
be brought long distances by ditch ; and that 
the supply is more constant and subject to the 
users' command and convenience. In all parts 
of the state well-boring and digging and 
pump construction have advanced very rap- 
idly. Pumping plants of all capacities, from 
the greatest of the gasoline class, lifting five 
thousand gallons per minute from a depth of 
twenty-five feet, down to the plant with a 
throw of three hundred gallons per minute, 



Random Suggestions 



150 



California Fruits : 



all styles of motors and pumps are being con- 
stantly multiplied. These plants are being 
placed upon wells in the orchard or in the vicin- 
ity, or upon adjacent streams or ponds. Many 
new designs by California inventors are com- 
ing into use. It would require a volume to 
contain any adequate account of California's 
recent progress in these lines. Economic 
pumping is governed by so many considera- 
tions that no general statement would be con- 
clusive in any specific case. Each orchardist 
must ascertain his own conditions and then 
confer with trustworthy manufacturers or 
their agents as to what will meet his require- 
ments.* 

WATER MEASUREMENT. 

This is too complicated a subject for satis- 
factory treatment in this connection. Bulletin 
86, Part I, "The Use of Water in Irrigation," 
of Irrigation Investigations, gives detailed in- 
structions for the use of weirs, etc. 



RANDOM SUGGESTIONS. 

Without attempting an impossible thing, to 
wit, to furnish explicit directions for the prac- 
tice of irrigation, for much of it every man 
must learn for himself by experience, a few 
suggestions may be noted, even though more 
important ones do not come to mind. 

Usually water should be prevented from 
actual contact with the trunk of the tree. 
Citrus trees are especially sensitive to such 
contact, and resent it by "gum disease," which 
was formerly far more prevalent in the State 
than now. Care must, therefore, be taken 
not to set trees which are to be irrigated, too 
low. It is better to raise them up a little and 
draw the earth up around them to prevent 
approach of the water, but this must not be 
overdone. 

If possible, the ditch should run on the 
shady side of the tree, because reflected sun- 
shine from the water surface may burn the 
bark. 

In examining soil to ascertain dryness, one 
must dig deeply, for often an upper layer will 
be fairly moist, if well cultivated, while lower 
layers, where the feeding rootlets ar-;, will be 



' Full details of the cost and flow from punips drawinp from 
i depths and operated by various motors are given in the 
publications of the Irrigation Investigations to which reference 
has been previously been made. 



arid. Therefore, when trees or vines are 
suffering, dig far down in examining the soil. 

In irrigating, thorough, deep soaking is 
necessary, and examination must be made to 
see if an artificial hard-pan which prevents 
the descent of the water has been formed. 

Be careful not to continue irrigation too 
late in the season. It will prevent the proper 
dormancy of deciduous trees, and if more fall 
irrigation is given citrus trees than they need 
for perfecting the fruit, the trees will con- 
tinue growing tender shoots until they are in- 
jured by severe frosts. On the other hand, 
it is often desirable to give deciduous trees a 
draft of water after the fruit has been gath- 
ered, if the soil is so dry that the tree is likely 
to drop its leaves too soon, and wake from its 
dormancy with ,the first rains. Many times 
the fall blooming of deciduous trees, which is 
very undesirable, may be prevented by keep- 
ing them growing later in the summer by 
moderate irrigation. 

If trees or vines, in regions usually irri- 
gated, are to be grown without irrigation, it 
is important that the grower be more than 
usually thorough and constant with his sum- 
mer cultivation. In trying the non-irrigation 
experiment, one should, of course, begin with 
young trees which have not been irrigated, 
and not usually expect success by withdraw- 
ing the water from trees which have been ac- 
customed to it, and have developed a root 
system accordingly. 

SUB-IRRIGATION IN CALIFORNIA. 

The word "sub-irrigated" is freely used in 
California to describe land which is moistened 
below by underflow or seepage from streams 
or springs, or from open irrigation ditches, 
traversing higher levels. This land is sub- 
irrigated, it is true, but there is no system 
about it, except the natural distribution of 
water, which is to seek its level. Some of our 
most productive lands are of this character, 
and where the soil and subsoil are fitted to 
the movement of this living water, and not 
apt to retain it up to the point of saturation, 
most satisfactory growth of deep-rooting field 
crops and of trees and vines are secured. But 
this is not sub-irrigation in the ordinary sig- 
nification of the term. 

Several systems of sub-irrigation by sub- 
terranean pipes have been devised by California 
inventors, but none have passed beyond the 



How to Grow Them 



151 



Drainag-e 



experimental stage, and no considerable acre- 
age has been continually operated. 

DRAINAGE IN CALIFORNIA. 
There was for a long time a very erroneous 
popular generalization that California soils do 
not need drainage ; that in a dry state the aim 
should be to retain the moisture, not to part 
with it. It is, of course, true that we have 
vast areas of naturally well-drained soil, upon 



wettest soil of the winter is the driest in the 
summer, and plants which are injured by 
soaking in winter suffer again from lack of 
moisture and sustenance in summer. Thus it 
is a fact, clearly proven by observation and 
experience, that thorough under-drainage re- 
moves surplus water in winter, and ministers 
to the retention of moisture in summer. More 
than this, a soil puddled by standing water 
can not present its contents in available form 



fe^ 


^^M 




1 




m 


'Wi 


1 




1 


1 


M 




^ 


Soir^i 




^^E 


m 


1 




^ 


m 


■ 




W/"v' . 


mi 


1 






■Hj 


Hj 




t 






^^^p 


~ *. 


" 


'^Tv^^v^v 





which any money spent for drainage would 
be in great part thrown away, but we have, 
also, both in the valley and on the hillsides, 
localities where, by peculiar character and 
conformation of the subsoil, water is held in 
the soil until evaporated from the surface, 
and the result is a boggy, miry condition, 
which prevents proper winter cultivation, and 
at the same time injures the roots of the trees 
or vines. This defective cultivation, added to 
the puddling effect of standing water, makes 
the so'l dry out completely under the fervid 
sun of summer, and the result is that the 



for plant nutrition, and besides, it loses the 
fertilizing effects of atmospheric currents, 
v^hich pass through an open, well-drained 
soil. Wet land is cold and late in spring, and 
hot as a baked brick under the summer sun ; 
it is no fiction of the imagination to say that 
well-drained land is warm in winter and cool 
in summer — that is. cool to a degree which 
favors quick and free root growth, and cool 
enough to escape the parching effect of deeply 
baked soil. 

These, and a host of similar considerations, 
which have made underdrainage popular in 



Drainage and Irrigation 



152 



California Fruits 



older countries, are of weiglit in California. 
Possibly, as a rule, because of our vast area 
of deep, kind loams, the proportion of land 
needing drainage in this State is less than else- 
where, and yet there is a vast extent of 
country to be improved by tiling. There have 
been large losses of trees from planting upon 
soils defective in this respect. The evil has 
resulted from excessive rainfall and excessive 
irrigation, either direct or by underflow from 
adjacent irrigations. In some places this 
latter movement of water has brought alkali 
to assist in the ruin of the trees and vines. 
The cure is drainage to sufficient depth and 
with good outlet for the drainage water. 

Information on the construction of under- 
drains is too available through other sources 
to call for its presentation in this connection. 

Drainage and Irrigation. — A special im- 
portance attaches to complete and systematic 
drainage in connection with irrigation. There 
is pressing need of such provision where the 
soil has become overloaded by seepage water 
from irrigation ditches, and it is well that peo- 
ple in such situations are waking up to the 
need of coupling drainage outlets with their 
irrigation inlets. Another matter closely allied 
to this is the action of alkali on soils thus 
artificially water-soaked. This has been made 
the subject of a special publication by Profes- 
sor Hilgard, to which allusion has already 
been made in Chapter III. Drainage is 
plainly essential, both in individual farms and 
in districts where the water level is rising too 
high, and the striking statements given below 
by Professor Hilgard should incite all to give 
immediate attention to the needs of vines and 
trees in this regard. 

The following summary of drainage needs, 
and the advantage of providing drainage when 
needed, is made by Professor Hilgard : 

In the valleys and plains of the arid irrigation 
countries the soils are predominantly of a light, 
sandy or silty nature, easily penetrated to great 
depths by water and air. With these the roots of 



plants also reach to such depths, drawing therefrom 
not only moisture but also plant food, which in these 
soils is, as a rule, very abundant. The plants of the 
arid region thus are enabled to utilize nearly as 
many feet of soil mass as in the regions of summer 
rains inches would be drawn upon ; and it is evident 
that this advantage, which postpones for a long time 
the need of fertilization should not be lightly thrown 
away. Each farm in the arid reg;ion has several 
similar ones underground, which with proper man- 
agement can be fully utilized. 

But this presupposes that the water, air and roots 
can all penetrate under irrigated culture as they do 
in the natural condition. It means that the ground 
water level shall not be allowed to rise to such an 
e.xtent as to prevent the penetration and healthy life 
of the roots in the depths of the soil mass. If by in- 
tentional or careless over-ifrigation, or by leakage 
from the ditches, the water level is allowed to rise 
within a few feet of the surface, the wonderfully pro- 
ductive lands of the arid valleys are reduced to the 
same condition as are those of the humid countries : 
a shallow layer of surface soil, within which alone the 
roots can exercise their functions of plant nutrition. 
The natural result is that this layer soon becomes 
exhausted, and copious artificial fertilization is re- 
quired to maintain profitable production. 

.•\nd even this is the most favorable case. When, 
in addition, the upward movefnent of the soil water 
carries with it the entire mass of salts of various 
kinds which exist in all arid soils, and brings them 
within reach of surface evaporation, these "alkali" 
salts impregnate the soil to such an extent as to 
render the cultivation of many crops unprofitable, or 
sometimes altogether impossible. 

Summarizing the advantages of systematic land 
draining it may be said that : 

1. It prevents the drowning out of the deeper 
roots of plants by the rise or fluctuations of the 
ground water, by which the vineyards and orchards 
are so frequently rendered unprofitable. 

2. It prevents, or at least limits definitely the 
shallowing of the soil caused by high-lying ground 
water, resulting in the need of early and copious fer- 
tilization, which would otherwise not have been called 
for in many years. The annual cost of such fertiliza- 
tion will soon exceed the first cost of drainage. 

3. Drainage does away definitely with the alkali 
evil. When drainage is established the land can 
easily be so handled as either to remove all the al- 
kali, or to leave in the soil so much of it as may be 
rationally considered beneficial, on account of its 
usual content of valuable and highly available plant 
food. To prevent the waste of much of this soluble 
plant food, the use of gypsum is also valuable; but 
subsequent swamping of the land would cause a 
return of the black alkali unless drainage were pro- 
vided for. 



PART THREE: ORCHARD FRUITS. 



How to Grow Them 



155 



Fruit Varieties 



CHAPTER XVI. 

COMMERCIAL FRUIT VARIETIES ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 



I N PREPARATION for this revised edition, 
1 and to serve also associations of nursery- 
men and fruit growers who requested specific 
information as to the relative standing of com- 
mercial varieties of different fruits in the vari- 
ous states whichparticipate in the overland fruit 
trade, the writer undertook in 1906 and 1907 
a careful inquiry into the present standing of 
varieties of the fruits chiefly grown in Cali- 
fornia for commercial purposes. The objects 
in this inquiry were, first, to secure exact data 
which would be of business advantage to 
large propagators of fruit trees ; second, to 
make widely known the particular require- 
ments of California production and trade for 
the information of originators of new varie- 
ties, which might preserve, with improve- 
ments, types which ministered to specific op- 
portunities and demands ; third, to enforce 
upon local planters the conviction that their 
clearest path toward satisfactory income lies 
in choosing varieties which have demon- 
strated two fundamental characters, viz: ad- 
aptation to the locality and to the uses of the 
fruit trade. 

This inquiry was taken up first with the 
growers of California. Subsequently for com- 
parison, the growers of other Pacific States 
were included, and finally a direct inquiry- 
was made of California nurserymen to de- 
termine how closely the growers' reports 
agreed with the actual production of trees by 
those who supplied them for planting. AH these 
sources of information are drawn upon in the 
tabulation which will follow. 

It may surprise the casual reader to find 
that our production proceeds so largely upon 
old standard varieties and that the striking 
achievements of Mr. Burbank are not more 
prominent. Anyone, however, who is ac- 
quainted with commercial fruit growing 
knows that it is not possible to revolutionize 
an established and profitable industry in less 
than a decade by the substitution of new 
varieties for the old standards. It takes not 



less than half that period to deteniiine whether 
the new variety is really trustworthy and suit- 
able, and it takes much longer to get a large 
acreage in bearing either by grafting or new 
plantings because people are slow and con- 
servative in making changes. It is little more 
than twelve years since Burbank distributed 
the first grafts of "Wickson," the first of his 
plums to make a deep impression upon the 
commercial fruit growing of California. 

Another reason why new varieties do not fig- 
ure more largely in California fruit growing is 
the smallness of the amateur interest. There 
is, in fact, almost an absence of pure ama- 
teurs — enthusiastic, critical, discriminating, 
athirst for novelties. Even suburban planters 
follow the lead of commercial orchardists and 
plant chiefly that which has shown adapta- 
tions to local growing conditions, and few are 
averse to making what they can by sale of 
small surpluses. The result is that California 
fruit growing is almost wholly commercial in 
spirit, policy and point of view, which is per- 
haps only natural in a state where the fruit 
products reach an annual aggregate value of 
something like sixty millions of dollars. The 
eft'ect is to concentrate attention upon varieties 
which have achieved fame for profit, and to 
repress amateur devotion and indulgences. 

At the same time there is, and has always 
been, quite a disposition toward trial of nov- 
elties among commercial growers, especially 
manifested in search for specific characters 
which are seen to be desirable rather than 
desire of newness for its own sake, which is 
often a point of pride among amateurs. To 
this enterprising and discriminating search is 
due the prominence of some of the leading 
varieties, which are chance seedlings recog- 
nized as meeting special requirements and 
grown great because they really did so. The 
California grower is, therefore, quite certain 
that he needs not varieties new throughout 
and of startling characters, but improved va- 
rieties which hold the good points of the old 



Observations 



156 



California Fruits 



and add other points. For instance, he calls 
for trees resistant to disease, for improvement 
of the fruit in beauty, flavor and keeping 
qualities ; for varieties, similar in kind, which 
fill gaps in the ripening season so that he can 
employ help continuously, and shippers and 
canners agree with him so that they can keep 
the cars moving and the cannery plants at 
work. The grower says he must be careful 
not to plant something different from what 
is already growing and selling well in his re- 
gion, and this is also the advice of the trade 
to him. He can not risk much on varieties of 
entirely different types, although most grow- 
ers are always doing a little experimenting. 
Nor should he undertake too many varie- 
ties, because a profitable orchard is not a 
pomological museum. There must be a large 
quantity of uniform fruit to make any district 
commercially prominent. 

For these reasons the number of varieties 
now planted is but a fraction of what it was 
a quarter of a century ago and, stopping at 
this point, one might get the idea that the 
California grower was a monument of con- 
servatism and lacking in enterprise and ad- 
venture. Subsequent chapters will, however, 
show that he has very definite ideas of what he 
wants that is new, and that he has problems 
enough to keep plant breeders busy for a cen- 
tury. This will be done for each fruit by 
citing in its chapter particularly desirable 
characters which California growers, shippers 
and canners have described in response to the 
wide inquiry upon which this statement rests. 
The writer was fortunate in securing i,6oi 
observations from men who have their liveli- 
hood and fortunes involved in profitable 
growth and handling of California fruits, and 
what are given as specific requirements of 
new varieties in California are not vain im- 
aginings, but deeply felt wants. 

The student of the accompanying table is 
reminded that because the district is so vast 
and natural conditions so various it would be 
of little use to consider the Pacific Coast as a 
whole, but lists must be made for the different 
states because varieties had such limited range 
in some cases. Of course the lists should not 
be made for states which are merely geo- 
graphical divisions without regard for regional 
characteristics, but should cover regions of 
similar climatic conditions without reference 
to political boundaries, and this will be under- 



taken for California in the discussions of 
varieties in the chapter devoted to the differ- 
ent fruits. 

In the California lists in the table the re- 
ports of growers and nurserymen are com- 
pared. In other states the reports are chiefly 
from growers. 

It will be noted by the reader that the 
preference for certain varieties, which is em- 
bodied in this tabulation, does not involve 
pomological standards as a leading factor. 
The claim is distinctly not made that these 
varieties are chosen on the basis of quality, 
beauty, hardiness or health. In the case 
of nearly all the fruits, there are other varie- 
ties which might equal or even surpass them 
in one or more of these respects. The choice 
is made because they are most profitable to 
grow ; not alone because they are good, but 
because they are good for something. This 
particular suitability or serviceability may in- 
volve pomological considerations and com- 
mercial and manufacturing considerations as 
well. The planter must use these lists in 
connection with what he may find about the 
varieties in subsequent chapters, without neg- 
lecting to confer also with older growers in 
the district in which he may plan to plant. 

Perhaps an intelligent use of the table can 
be concretely suggested by briefly discuss- 
ing the first group of varieties mentioned — the 
apples most approved in California. First 
comes the yellow Newtown Pippin, and that 
means that most apples commercially grown 
are winter apples and this variety is, on the 
whole, the most profitable of them. But a 
planter in a hot interior valley should usually 
reject them for all winter apples are apt to 
be unsatisfactory, and, if he plants apples at 
all, should choose early varieties like the 
Red and White Astracan. because they ripen 
early, thus escaping the highest heat and 
at the same time being ready for the early 
market. 

Similar comments might be made upon 
other varieties. Some years ago the distribu- 
tion of commercial fruit varieties was taken 
into account in a biological way because it 
was taken to be certain that the grower would 
select varieties which "did best" in his dis- 
trict. Enough has been said to emphasize 
the fact that the lists of fruits are not made 
of those who do best alone, but of those 
which sell to best advantage, and that has no 
biological significance whatever. 



How to Grow Them 



157 



Fruit Tabulations 



Fruit varieties most popular in the Pacific States. 



California Growers Cal. N 



Utah and Idaho 





/ Newtown Pippin 


Newtown Pippin 


Newtown Pippin 


E. Spitzenberg 


Gano 




/ Bellflower 


Beimower 


Jonathan 


Newtown Pippin 


Jonathan 


■j: 


I W. W. Pearmain 


Red Astracan 


Gravenstein 


Gravenstein 


Rome Beauty 


\ Gravenstein 


W W. Pearmain 


E. Spitzenberg 


Baldwin 


Yel. Transparent 


_3 


/ R. Astracan 


Gravenstein 


W. W. Pearmain 


Jonathan 


Ben Davis 


a. 


\ R. I Greening 


R. I. Greeniog 


Red Astracan 


King 


Winesap 


< 


/ E. Spitzenberg 


Red June 


Ark. Black 


Rome Beauty 


W. W. Pearmain 


1 Mo. Pippin 


Jonathan 


Rome Beauty 


(Udenberg 


Newtown Pippin 




\ W. Astracan 


E. Spitzenberg 


Winesap 


Y'el Transparent 


Ark. Black 




\ Red June 


Ben Davis 


Wagener 


Wealthy 


Wealthy 


'Jl 


r Royal 
BJenheim 


Royal 


Royal 


Royal 


Moorpark 


^ 


Blenhein 


Moorpark 


Moorpark 


Royal 


O 


Moorpark 


Hemskirk 


Tilton 


Blenheim 


Blenheim 


o 


-j Hemskirk 


Tilton 


Blenheim 


Hemskirk 


Hemskirk 


s 


1 Peach 


Moorpark 


Peach 




Peach 


2^ 

< 


Newcastle 


Newcastle 


Hemskirk 




Acme 


I- Tilton 


Peach 


Newcastle 








/ Royal Ann 


Black Tartarian 


Bing 


Royal Ann 


Royal Ann 




Black Tartarian 


Royal Ann 


Lambert 


Bing 


May Duke 


V. 


Black Republican 


Bing 


Royal Ann 


Lambert 


Early Richmond 


^ 


\ Rockport 


Black Republican 


Purple Guigne 


Black Tartarian 


Black Tartarian 


q; 


) Bing 


Early Richmond 


May Duke 


Black Republican 


Black Republican 


q: 


\ Chapman 


Chapman 


Black Tartarian 


.May Duke 


Bing 


EC 


Purple Gnigne 


Gov. Wood 


Black Republican 


Early Richmond 


Lambert 


/ MRy Dnke 


Rockport 


Gov. Wood 


Centennial 


Eng. Morello 




Centennial 


.May Duke 


Centennial 


Eng Morello 


Windsor 




Black Bigarreau 


Lambert 


Chapman 


Late Duke 


Montmorency 




\ Lambert 


Knight's Early 


Knight's Early 


Gov. Wood 


Gov. Wood 




/ Mnir 


Muir 


Elberta 


Elberta 


Elberta 




f Phillips 


Phillips 


Muir 


Early Crawford 


Koster 




Salway 


Tuskena 


Salway 


.Muir 


Early Crawford 




Lovell 


Lovell 


Early Crawford 


Phillips 


Late Crawford 




Early Crawford 


Elberta 


Late Crawford 


Alexander 


Orange Cling 




Tnskena 


Foster 


Foster 


Hales 


Triumph 




\ Foster 


Early Crawford 


Alexander 


Triumph 


Utah Orange 


CO 

'ai 


Elberta 


Salway 


Triumph 


Foster 


Globe 


J Late Crawford 


Orange Cling 


Susquehanna 


Tnskena 


Alexander 


Q 


/ Orange Cling 


Late Crawford 


Phillips 


Late Crawford 


Mnir 


<: 


\ Susquehanna 


Heath 


Mary's Choice 


Susquehanna 


Salway 


Cx] 


Nichols 


Alexander 


Heath 


Sellers 


Sellers 


cu 


I Sellers 


Sellers 


Wheatland 


Heath 


St. Johns 




' Lemon 


Hales 


Lovell 


California Cling 


Hales Early 




St. Johns 


Susquehanna 


Orange Cling 


Briggs' May 


Heath 


j 


Henrietta 


Nichols 


Lemon Cling 


Charlotte 


Wheatland 




M ary's Choice 


St. Johns 


California Cling 




Chair's Choice 


1 


Hales 


Triumph 


Globe 




Carman 




Alexander 


Wheatland 


Tuskena 




Willett 




^ Heath 


Strawberry 


St. Johns 




China Cling 




/ Bartlett 


Bartlett 


Bartlett 


Bartlett 


Bartlett 




Winter Nelis 


Winter Nelis 


D'Anjou 


Winter Nelis 


Seckel 




Seckel 


Seckel 


Winter Nelis 


Clapp's Favorite 


Barry 


X 

a 


1 Easter 


Winter Bartlett 


Flemish 


B Hardy 


D' Anjou 


1 Dn Cornice 


Easter 


Dn Cornice 


Winter Bartlett 


Winter Nelis 


Cd 


\ Doyenne D'Ete 


Barry 


Seckel 


Seckel 


Keiffer 


B, 


1 Clapp's Favorite 


Du Cornice 


Easter 


Ea«ter 


Flemish 




Glout Morceau 


B. Hardy 


Clapp's Favorite 


Clairgeau 


Easter 




Barry 


Madeline 


Winter Bartlett 


Flemish 


Du Comice 




\ Comet 


Clapp's Favorite 


Clairgeau 


Keiffer 


Clapp's Favorite 




/ Wickson 


Wickson 


Peach 


Bradshaw 


Hungarian 


1 


Hungarian 


Burbank 


Bradshaw 


Peach 


Yellow Egg 




Kelsey 


Hungarian 


Green Gage 


Hnngarian 


Satsuma 




Yellow Egg 


Kelsey 


Cherry 


Y'ellow Egg 


Peach 


W 


1 Tragedy 


Climax 


Yellow Egg 


Washington 


Bradshaw 


H 


/ Washington 


Green Gage 


BurbanK 


Coc's Golden 


Burbank 


J 


\ Satsnma 


Yellow Egg 


Coes Golden 


Burbank 


Wickson 


0. 


J Bnrbank 


Satsuma 


Blue Damson 


Green Gage 


Jefferson 




Jeflferson 


Tragedy 


Hnngarian 


Columbia 


Grand Duke 




Climax 


Bine Damson 


Wickson 


Climax 


Coe's Golden 




Grand Duke 


Jefferson 


Maynard 


Duane 


Bine Damson 




Cljman 


Washington 


Washington 




Green Gage 


; 


French 


French 


Italian 


Italian 


Italian 


«l 


Imperial 


Sugar 


French 


French 


German 


a 1 


Sugar 


Imperial 


Sugar 


Sugar 


Silver 


? < 


Giant 


Robe de Sergeant 


Silver 


Silver 


French 




Robe de Sergeant 


Silver 


Imperial 


Imperial 


Sugar 


German 


German 


Giant 


Giant 


Giant 


B- 1 


Silver 


Italian 


German 


German 




> 


Splendor 


Giant 


Splendor 


Tenuant 





The Apple 



158 



California Fruits : 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE APPLE IN CALIFORNIA. 



DURING the last decade notable progress 
has been made in apple growing m Cali- 
fornia The old idea that our conditions did not 
favor excellence in the apple has given way to 
full assurance that in wisely selected elevations 
and exposures the very highest points of size, 
beauty, flavor, keeping and shipping qualities 
are secured. Even before the wonderfully 
satisfactory test of both northern and south- 
ern California apples at the New Orleans 
World's Fair, it was clear that the right va- 
riety grown in the right place yields an apple 
in California than which a better can not be 
grown anywhere, and during the last hve 
years California early apples have been in 
sharp request for shipment to all regions of 
the Northwest and British Columbia, and 
California winter apples have been sold at the 
highest prices east of the Rocky Mountains and 
in Europe. Shipments beyond State lines of 
above one thousand and seven hundred and 
forty-four car-loads in 1905 testify to these 
facts. 



Localities for the Apple.— Speaking gen- 
erally, it may be laid down that the great val- 
leys of the interior are not well suited to the 
apple; also, there are some situations which 
are much better than others. In the early 
regions of the Sacramento Valley and foot- 
hills however, excellent early apples are 
profitably produced. In the great valley and 
lower foot-hill region of the State, the late 
apple usually lacks character and keeping 
quality. On the great plains the tree is liable 
to sunburn, or sun blight, as it is called_ 
Some varieties, because of the character ot 
their foliage, are less liable to this injury than 
others, and it is possible that this evil may be 
finally overcome by the selection of varieties 
with blight-proof foliage, as will be mentioned 
later. In the great valley, however, on the 
rich river-bottom land of the Sacramento and 
the San Joaquin and its tributaries, the apple 
roots deeplv. attains good size, bears good 
fruit, with 'fair keeping quality, while but a 
few miles away on the plains it is inferior. 



In the interior the region of adaptation to 
the apple lies at an elevation on the foot-hills 
on both the east and west rims of the great 
valley. Its limits are not well defined, but 
there are flourishing orchards at an elevation 
of about four thousand five hundred feet on the 
slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and 
from two thousand to three thousand five 
hundred feet is commonly regarded the best 
apple region of the mountains. The trees 
attain large size and bear heavily, and the 
fruit, of well-adapted varieties, is large, crisp, 
juicy and has exceptional keeping qualities. 
On the Tule River in Tulare County at an 
elevation of 4100 feet, eight-year-old Wine- 
saps have borne 300 pounds, \ellow New- 
town Pippins 250 pounds, and White Winter 
Pearmains 300 pounds per tree. At such ele- 
vations, however, there is constant danger of 
spring frost injury. 

Along the coast the apple succeeds well 
from end to end of the State, and very close 
to the ocean excellent fruit is produced on 
good soil. There is a certain advantage in 
elevation in the coast region as well as in the 
interior, but the advantage is not so marked 
nor is the required elevation so great. Coast 
valleys in the central and upper portion of the 
State, where the soil is suitable, produce most 
excellent apples, but even here the lower hill- 
sides with deep, well-drained soils, are, per- 
haps,' preferable to the floors of the valley. 
Departing from immediate coast influences 
and approaching the interior, with its greater 
heat and aridity, the greater elevation be- 
comes desirable. The apple, excepting the 
very earlv varieties, does not relish the forcing 
heat which brings such perfection to tne peach 
but to insure late ripening and long keeping, 
with accompanying crispness, juiciness, ana 
flavor, it must have atmospheric surroundings 
which favor slower development. 

Localities for apple growing in southern Cal- 
ifornia are to be chosen with much the same 
rules as in the upper parts of the State. As has 



How to Grow Them 



159 



Propagation of the Apple 



already been said, valleys in which coast condi- 
tions largely predominate produce good apples 
on suitable soils, but away from the coast, 
proper elevations must be sought, and they 
should be above the so-called thermal or frost- 
less belts. Good apples are grown on low 
lands near the coast in Los Angeles and Or- 
ange Counties. Sixty miles inland, in San 
Bernardino County, winter apples fail in the 
valleys, hut are most excellent at a sufficient 
elevation upon the slopes of the surrounding 
mountains or in elevated valleys like the Yu- 
caipe Valley above Redlands, where a Rome 
Beauty of excellent quality was grown in 1903 
to a weight of twenty-seven ounces and a cir- 
cumference of fifteen inches. In the elevated 
interior of San Diego County, as in the Julian 
and Smith Mountain districts, excellent apples 
are produced in large quantities and profitably 
carried long distances. 

Second and Third-Crop Apples. — There 
is a peculiar behavior of the apple tree, most 
noticeable where winter temperature is mild- 
est, and that is blooming and fruiting out of 
season. In the case of early apples the sec- 
ond bloom may appear about the time the first 
fruit ripens and the third bloom when the 
second crop is half grown. Even such be- 
havior may he followed by regular blooming 
the following spring. Second crops of apples 
are not of amount nor regularity enough to 
be of much economic importance, as, the sec- 
ond crops of pears and grapes sometimes are. 
The third crop occasionally ripens. An in- 
stance is on record at Chino, San Bernardino 
County, where in 1903 a tree ripened its first 
fruit in June, and its last fruit was picked on 
Christmas day following. Such behavior, of 
course, indicates conditions ill suited to the 
apple. 

Exposures for the Apple. — The choice of 
exposure for an apple orchard may almost be 
inferred from what has been said about lo- 
calities. In regions with high summer tem- 
perature the apple will do best on cool, north- 
erly slopes, and this exposure becomes 
doubly desirable when the location has high 
temperature with only moderate annual rainfall, 
or where the soil is not well adapted to the reten- 
tion of moisture. With such prevailing condi- 
tions, the apple will be grateful for the cooler 
air and the greater moisture of the northerly 
slope. Where the temperature is moderately 



cool, and the rainfall adequate, the matter 
of exposure is of less account, and the grower 
can make the existence of the best soil the 
test of location of his orchard. At elevations 
on the sides of high ranges where late cold 
storms are liable to rush down from higher 
snow fields, protection from the usuaf course 
of such storms, or from the course of cold 
winds generally, must be sought ; and directly 
upon the coast, especially in the northern part 
of the State, in certain places where the peach 
does not usually succeed even the apple may 
need protection, and the benefit of all heat 
available, and then a southerly or southeast- 
erly exposure becomes desirable. The choice 
of exposure is thus seen to be largely a local 
question and to be determined by a knowledge 
of local conditions. A newcomer in a region 
can best learn these conditions by conference 
with older residents, or by personal observa- 
tion of older orchards. 

Soils for the Apple. — Experience with 
the apple in California confirms what has 
long been set forth as its choice of soils in 
older regions. If one avoid an extremely 
light, sandy soil on the one hand, and a very 
stiff clay or adobe on the other, he may plant 
apples on almost any soil which allows ex- 
tension of the roots to a considerable depth 
without reaching standing water. The apple 
thrives in a moist soil, but it must be well 
drained, naturally or otherwise. A soil which 
may be called best for the apple is a deep, 
rich, moist, calcareous loam, but the tree 
will thrive on coarser materials. The subsoil, 
whatever its nature, must be sound and open 
to the passage of moisture. The most un- 
favorable condition for the tree is a subsoil 
of clay which holds water. There is some 
difiference in varieties as to choice of soil. 
The Yellow Bellflower, for instance, will do 
well on a lighter soil than the Yellow New- 
town Pippin. 

PROPAGATION OF THE APPLE. 

The apple is chiefly propagated by root- 
grafting upon apple seedling roots either 
whole-roots or root pieces. Budding is also 
practised to a certain extent. For dwarf 
trees the Paradise stock is used. Repeated 
trials with working the apple on the pear, 
chiefly by top grafting, have secured growth 
of limited life but without fruiting. 



Care of the Apple Orchard 



160 



California Fruits : 



The resistance of certain roots to the wool- 
ly aphis has been fully demonstrated by local 
experience in the use of the Northern Spy 
and Winter Majetin, chiefly the former. 
Seedlings of Northern Spy cannot be relied 
upon as resistant to the woolly aphis. It is 
necessary to get a root actually grown from 
the Northern Spy wood. The best way to 
get a start is to buy some Northern Spy trees 
from some reputable nurseryman, specifying 
that they shall be Northern Spy root and top. 
With these resistant roots and wood growth 
for scions or cuttings can he grown. Resis- 
tant trees are made by root grafting the scion 
of the variety which it is desired to propagate 
upon a piece of Northern Spy root and then 
being careful that the scion does not send out 
roots of its own, but is wholly dependent 
upon the Northern Spy root. It is customary 
with nurserymen selling resistant trees to save 
the root pieces which are removed in digging 
and packing for subsequent propagation. It 
is also possible to get a resistant tree by 
starting from the cutting of a Northern Spy. 
To facilitate the rooting of these cuttings a 
small piece of any kind of apple root is put 
in by side graft near the bottom of the cut- 
ting. This acts as a starter, but the cutting 
will also make roots of itself. At the end 
of the first year then the cuttings are taken 
up, the piece of root used as a starter is 
cleanly cut away and the rooted cutting re- 
planted ; henceforth it is dependent upon its 
own roots and is resistant. The variety de- 
sired is then grafted in a little above the 
ground surface so that there will be no dan- 
ger of its making its own roots. By either of 
these processes it is more troublesome and 
takes more time to produce a tree with a re- 
sistant root than in the ordinary way, and for 
that reason trees on resistant roots are sold 
at a higher price. This may be the reason 
why resistant trees are not yet largely used 
in this state. 

Other suggestions applicable to the growth 
of young apple trees are given in Chapters 
VIII and IX. 

DISEASES AND PESTS OF THE 
APPLE. 

The apple is subject to various diseases 
and insect enemies which must be resolutely 
fought or they will render the trees unprof- 
itable. Chief of the diseases are the "pear 



blight'" and the apple scab, and the apple mil- 
dew. Of the insect enemies the codlin moth, 
the apple-leaf aphis, various leaf-eating cater- 
pillars and several scale insects must be kept 
in check and the latest approved means of 
reducing these troubles will be described in 
detail in later chapters. 

PLANTING AND CARE OF THE APPLE 
ORCHARD. 

The chapters on planting, and pruning con- 
tain suggestions to which the reader is re- 
ferred. Care should be taken to obtain trees 
with clean, healthy roots, not knotted and 
scarred by woolly aphis. 

Distance in Planting. — The distance be- 
tween the trees is of the highest importance. 
All the old apple orchards are overcrowded. 
More recently trees have been set at greater 
distances, and such planting is now generally 
advised. There is some difference of opinion 
as to proper distance, but certainly twenty- 
five to thirty feet is near enough, and some 
of the best new orchards have been planted at 
forty feet, the ground being used for a time 
with other crops or planted with early bear- 
ing trees, for which the soil is suited, between 
them. 

Pruning the Apple. — The manner of 
shaping fruit trees described in the chapter 
on pruning succeeds admirably with the apple. 
Yearling, trees are usually planted, and they 
are regularly pruned until proper form is se- 
cured. 

Mr. C. H. Rodgers, a leading apple grower 
of the Watsonville district, near the coast in 
central California, gives the following ex- 
cellent outline of a simple and economical, yet 
successful, method for apple tree building 
under ordinary conditions : 

First Year : On planting, cut the stem 
from 30 to 36 inches in height, with tlie ter- 
minal bud toward the southwest. In the 
spring, when growth begins, strip off all 
shoots from the ground up to about 20 inches. 
Above this point let all growth remain during 
the summer. If for any cause during early 
summer a bud does not start where wanted, a 
short transverse cut through the bark just 
above the bud will cause it to develop into a 
limb. 

Beginning of Second Year : Cut off all 
limbs except those selected to remain per- 



How to Grow Them 



161 



Cultivation and Irrigation 



nianently. Two, three, four, and not more 
than five limbs should be allowed to remain, 
the number depending on their position. It 
should be the aim to distribute them evenly 
on all sides, and to give all possible space be- 
tween limbs up and down the trunk. This 
latter precaution is to give room for expan- 
sion of limbs in after years. Cut back the 
limbs that are to remain, taking off from one- 
third to one-half of the previous season's 
growth. If the tree is of a spreading habit, 
and it is desired to have it grow erect, cut to 
inner buds. If desired to spread the top cut 
to outer buds. , 

Pieginning of Third Year : Allow two or 
three lateral limbs to remain on each of the 
main branches. Top the tree again, taking 
off from one-third to one-half the previous 
year's growth. Continue this method during 
the first four years, at which time the tree 
should begin to bear, and if surrounding con- 
ditions are favorable, it will prove strong, 
vigorous and capable of sustaining a heavy 
load of apples. The after treatment will con- 
sist mainly in keeping the top properly 
thinned. 

After coming into bearing there must be 
intelligent pruning according to the growth- 
habit of the variety. Some varieties, like the 
Yellow Bellflower, resent heavy pruning after 
coming into bearing, and slow growers like 
the Yellow Newtown Pippin, do not need it. 
On the other hand varieties, like the Winesap 
and Smith's Cider, are apt to make long slim 
branches and bear at the ends. This can be 
corrected by cutting back to secure more short 
shoots which will bear better fruit. Some vari- 
eties, like the Jonathan, will make plenty of 
short spurs under this treatment while others 
like Rome Beauty and Rhode Island Greening 
are persistent tip-bearers, but can be gradually 
drawn in without reducing the crop too much. 
The grower must study his varieties not only 
with reference to this but in forming the 
tree, cutting to an inside bud all varieties 
which naturally take a horizontal direction, 
and cutting to an outside bud varieties which 
iiave a tendency to send up tall, straight 
shoots. By thus throwing the new growth up- 
ward in the first case, and outward in the 
second, one can shape each kind to greater 
symmetry and strength for fruit carrying, and 
bring up all spreading varieties to a form 
which admits near approach of the plow and 
cultivator. This manner of shaping the tree 



must continue as long as seems necessary to 
secure a tree which will come to bearing age 
shapely and strong, and within reach. 

Bearing trees should not be allowed to carry 
too many branches, and pruning will largely 
consist of thinning out surplus shoots and re- 
moving interference between branches. It 
is not desirable to shorten-in the apple as is 
done with the apricot and peach. 

Summer pruning to reduce wood growth 
and promote bearing is practiced to a limited 
extent in some districts upon varieties in- 
clined to shy bearing. In regions of the most 
intense summer heat, less pruning is admissi- 
ble than in the coast and elevated regions. 
It is necessary that the foliage be dense to 
protect the tree and the fruit from sunburn. 
Nor does the tree seem to relish cutting back. 
Slight thinning out if the tree becomes too 
brushy, seems to be the best treatment in 
some of the hot valleys. 

Thinning the Fruit. — One of the most 
important items in the handling of an apple 
orchard is the faithful thinning out of the 
fruit of all varieties which are prone to over- 
bear, and this work is now regularly pro- 
vided for by the leading commercial growers. 
Only one apple should grow at a place and 
spacing of four to six inches is commended. 
Although this work is tedious and expensive, 
it is profitable, because of the improved price 
which can be had for the larger fruit which 
will be secured, and it is desirable in the 
effects of thinning on the tree. It will be 
relieved from the exhaustion of overbearing, 
induced to yield annual crops, and often 
saved from breaking down with a too heavy 
burden. 

CULTIV.\TI0N .■\ND IRRIGATION. — All that 

has been urged in measures to secure ade- 
quate moisture supply has full force with 
the apple. Excepting the early varieties, it 
is a fruit with a long growing season and 
therefore requires continuous moisture to 
secure size and quality. Most California 
apples are grown on deep, retentive soils 
in regions of large rainfall and if this is 
conserved by thorough cultivation, good fruit 
can be secured. It is doubtless true that 
apples in even such places in California 
would sometimes he improved by irrigation 
just as they are in interior and mountain dis- 
tricts. 



Gathering and Sorting 



162 



California i:^'ruits : 



Fertilizers have been thus far but little 
used in California apple orchards but they 
are manifestly needed. 

There has arisen recently evidence of the 
unfinished character of the fruit in some dis- 
tricts because it has shown blemishes after 
picking and during shipment which cannot 
be attributed to any parasitic encroachment. 
This is probably due to some unfavorable 
condition in the local climate or to some 
other stress upon the tree which prevents 
it from doing perfect work. 

GATHERING AND STORING APPLES. 

The disposition in this State, as elsewhere, 
is to allow the fruit to hang too long upon 
the tree before gathering. It was long ago 
demonstrated that an apple for long-keeping 
must be picked a little in advance of full 
maturity. As late fall weather in California 
is so delightful, there is more temptation to 
delay the picking than where the approach 
of winter admonishes the grower to get his 
fruit under cover. Picking apples for ship- 
ment should be done just when the seeds be- 
gin to blacken and when the fruit yields to 
pressure. If left on until fully ripe, and the 
seeds all black, the fruit is apt not to keep 
well. This rule applies to fall apples for 
shipment to distant markets, or for apples 
to be stored at home. 

Mr. H. G. Keesling of Edenvale, Santa 
Clara county, gives a sketch of his way of 
handling apples on a small scale : In picking 
apples we insist on just as careful handling 
as in picking other fruits, and we find that 
the picking pail made of tin or light galvan- 
ized iron, holding about twelve quarts, or 
nearly twenty pounds of apples, is the best 
vessel to pick in, and we use them right 
through the season for cherries, apricots, 
peaches and even prunes. A pail of this 
size is not too heavy to handle even on high 
ladders, and it carries the fruit without bruis- 
ing. Otir plan is to pick and sort into boxes 
in the orchard. If a number of pickers are 
at work, then one or more men will do the 
sorting. As each picker fills his pail, he 
carries it a short distance to the sorting 
station, taking an empty one and returning 
to his work. The apples arc sorted out of 
the pails and very carefully examined. The 
perfect apples go into one box, seconds into 
another and culls into another. They are 



then loaded onto a truck or wagon with 
springs and hauled to the house. A good 
sorter will keep pails empty for several 
pickers, all of course depending on the crop, 
size of apples, etc. I put my winter apples in 
redwood boxes, which, when piled one on top 
of another, five or six high and close to- 
gether, and covered with canvas or muslin, 
are in a condition to keep their flavor and 
juiciness a long time. Storing apples in 
boxes saves a lot of work in handling if they 
are to be examined or sorted during the 
winter. 

Nearly all the ways of keeping winter 
apples have been tried in California. The 
main difficulty in keeping apples in good 
condition during the dry months of the 
autumn is the loss of moisture from the fruit 
by evaporation. This causes shrivelling and 
operates against long keeping. It has been 
found by experience that apples keep per- 
fectly until late in the spring by piling under 
the trees and covering with leaves, etc., al- 
lowing the rains to fall upon them. When 
dry north winds blow, the fruit should be 
sprinkled occasionally. They come out from 
the cover fresh, smooth, and plump, and for 
family use such rough storage will often an- 
swer a good purpose. For commercial 
storage, even on a small scale, however, good 
fruithouses are used. The requisites of such 
houses are an evenly cool temperature, moist 
air, and good ventilation, the fruit being 
open to free access of the air. In the moun- 
tains where stone is abundant excellent apple 
houses are made of it, which resist tempera- 
ture changes notably. 

Mr. Edward Berwick, of Monterey, apple 
grower of experience in the coast region, 
handles his fruit in this way : 

The apples are carefully hand-picked into baskets 
and at once transferred to ordinary apple boxes — 
just put in loose, not packed tight as for shipping. 
These boxes are hauled to the fruit house with as 
little jar as possible. 

This fruit house is built of rough boards (fastened 
on a heavy frame) with inch-thick battens covering 
the cracks, and rustic-nailed outside the battens, thus 
leaving an inch air-space between the boards and 
the rustic. It is of two stories — the upper devoted 
to tools and stores, the lower used for fruit, and 
arranged with shelves accordingly. This lower story 
has only an earthen floor. One object of this is 
to give as lodgement for rats or mice, the other is 
to serve as a means of maintaining a cool, damp 
atmosphere. To this end it is kept well watered m 
apple-keeping season; and, to avoid mildew or mold, 
it is also liberally sprinkled with ground sulphur. 



How to Grow Them 



163 



Summer and Fall Apples 



By day doors and windows are mostly kept sliiu, 
by night open ; this, of course, is to exclude the heat 
and allow free circulation of the cool night air. 

A rather more open house is used in the 
coast region of southern California, by Mr. 
T. W. Ward, of Carpinteria: 

It is a slat house made of strips 1x2 1-2 inches, 
put on one inch apart. The roof is similarly con- 
structed. There are two passages, on either side of 
which are two shelves, one above the other, i. e., 
eight in all. The shelves are made of slats placed 
one-half inch apart, with sides a foot high. The 
apples are spread on these shelves a foot or more 
deep. The floor is made of slats, and there are bins 
on this also. The fruit must receive a thorough 
sprinkling weekly, unless sufficient rain falls. The 
slats are close enough to prevent birds doing dainage, 
and the whole building is raised six inches from the 
ground. ! 

In the moutitain regions arrangements 
must be made for frost exclusion, — a con- 
sideration which does not apply to the valley 
and coast. 

PICKING AND PACKING APPLES ON 
A LARGE SCALE. 
Mr . C. H. Rodgers, a leading grower, and 
president of the Santa Cruz County horti- 
cultural commission, gives the best methods 
in his district as follows : 

In the matter of picking, experience has evolved a 
number of rules which should be strictly adhered to : 

(i.) Do not pull the apple off the tree. By so 
doing, the stem may be detached from the apple, 
thus making a second grade of what otherwise would 
be choice. 

The proper method of plucking the apple is to 
grasp it with the full hand, not with the fingers only, 
and by a gentle twist and lateral movement detach it 
with the stem attached. Especially must finger 
pressure be avoided in the picking, as bruises thereby 
produced injure the value. 

(2.) The apple must never be dropped into a re- 
ceptacle or from box to box, but should be trans- 
ferred as carefully as so many eggs. 

(3.) Under all circumstances use vehicles having 
springs in moving the fruit. 

Once within the packing-house the inore perishable 
varieties should be handled immediately and for- 
warded to market, while the long-keeping varieties, 
especially those intended for export, should be held 
at least a month before sorting and packing. This 
latter precaution enables the packer to discover and 
eliminate all diseased and defective fruit — a thing that 
would be iinpossible if the fruit were packed at an 
early date after picking. 

Three grades or qualities are recognized in the 
"trade"- — first, second and third. First grade in- 
cludes only perfect fruit. Second grade includes the 
fruit having a trivial surface blemish or stem absent. 
The third or cull class includes all wormy, badly 
bruised or skin-broken apples. 



Though grading for size varies somewhat in diflfer- 
ent localities, in the Watsonville district, the leading 
apple-producing center of the West, there are but 
three sizes recognized. These are 3 1-2, 4, and 4 1-2 
tier. The unit of size is the 4-tier, which comprises 
all apples running from 25-8 to 31-4 inches in di- 
ameter, and derives the name from the fact that when 
packed in the bo.x there are four rows of four apples 
each, both vertically and horizontally across the end 
of the box. Apples in excess of 31-4 mclies are 
classed as 3 1-2 tier size. The third size, or 4 1-2- 
tier, includes those apples ranging between 2 1-4 and 
2 5-8 inches in diameter. Both the 3 1-2-tier and 
4 l-2-tier are packed in the manner known as "dia- 
mond" pack or "pear" pack. Apples smaller than 4 1-2 
tier are thrown into the cull pile. The sorter ascer- 
tains the size by passing the apples through circular 
holes in a board. 

In this State the standard box is made of pine. Its 
measurements are 9 3-4 by 11 by 22 in., and it holds 
about 50 pounds of fruit. A modified bo.x of e.xtra 
thick material, reinforced by iron straps, is fre- 
quently used for export trade. Redwood boxes are 
used only for cheap grades of apples packed for the 
local market. 

After being sorted, the apples are passed to the 
packer, who, before placing them in the box, wraps 
each apple in a piece of paper prepared for the pur- 
pose. 

The apples must be so packed in the bo.x as to 
permit the nailing firmly of the lid at each end, 
and at the same time allow a gradual swell of about 
three-fourths of an inch at the middle of both top 
and bottom. Pn account of the resultant shape of 
the boxes, they can be stacked up with safety only 
on their sides. 

The packed boxes after being neatly labeled, are 
next transferred to the cars and stacked four or five 
tiers high. An air space of three or four feet is left 
between the top tier and the roof of the car, also the 
entire space between the doors is left vacant for the 
better circulation of air. The boxes, after being sys- 
tematically placed in the car, are so braced with tim- 
bers as to prevent any movement. The usual car- 
load consists of about 650 bo.xes. Refrigerator fruit 
cars are employed mainly for apple shipment, but no 
ice is used. 

Summer and Fall Apples. — In some re- 
gions noted for early maturing of fruit, it 
is profitable to grow early apples, providing 
there are facilities for reaching profitable 
avenues of trade. E.xcept to minister to some 
special local or distant trade which can be 
thus foreseen, it must be said that very early 
apples are hardly worth the attention of the 
commercial planter. These sorts are apt to 
come into direct contest with the magnificent 
peaches, grapes, and other summer and au- 
tumn fruits, and sufifer thereby. 

On the other hand the fall apples, chiefly 
the Yellow Bellflower and Gravenstein are 
so good and profitable in regions where they 
bear well thrt they are among the varieties 



Varieties for Cross Pollination 



164 



California Fruits 



which constitute our chief commercial reli- 
ance. 

Winter Apples. — For large ventures in 
apple growing, in localities carefully chosen 
for "especial adaptations, a few of the finest 
varieties of winter apples should generally 
be selected. It is the judgment of the most 
experienced apple growers, many of whom 
have old orchards including many varieties, 
that new plantations of winter apples should 
contain only about six sorts. Of these, in all 
parts of the State, two would be the Yellow 
Newtown Pippin and White Winter Pear- 
main ; the other four would vary in different 
parts of the State, as can be learned from the 
table which will follow. 

Apples for Long Shipment. — There has 
been for years quite an important trade in 
shipment of California apples to various ports 
in the South Pacific Ocean, and recently 
there has been a sharp demand for Califor- 
nia apples for shipment to the eastern states 
and England. The characteristic size, quality 
and keeping of the fniit, together with the 
size and style of package, have strongly 
commended the fruit. The center of this 
trade is Watsonville, in a coast valley, in the 
central part of the State. The two apples 
which are most popular are the Yellow Bell- 
flower and the Yellow Newtown Pippin. It 



For the Interior Valleys. — In choosing 
varieties for the hot valleys of the State 
those making a heavy leaf growth are to be 
preferred. The Spitzenburg, for example, is 
a failure in the valleys of the interior, though 
satisfactory at points on the valley borders. 
From experience already had it seems likely 
that some of the Russian varieties, with thick, 
large leaves, will prove best for such situa- 
tions. The behavior of the Astracans, the 
Duchess of Oldenburg, and others of Rus- 
sian origin, are illustrations of this fact. 
Other varieties have been on trial for several 
years, but no great distribution of them has 
yet been attained. 

SELECTION OF VARIETIES FOR 
CROSS-POLLINATION. 

Selection of varieties of the same bloom- 
ing season to secure whatever advantage 
there may be in cross-pollination to promote 
bearing arises chiefly with reference to White 
Winter Pearmain, which is sometimes very 
shy when grown alone. Association can be 
arranged with a number of our most popular 
varieties by consulting the following dates of 
blooming as prepared by Mr. Frederick 
Maskew based upon observations in the 
coast region of Los Angeles County. 



Blooming season of our most popular varieties. 



VARIETIES. First bloom 

White Winter Pearmain April 11 

Red Astracan April 17 

Bell Flower April 20 

Fall Pippin April 20 

Rhode Island Greening April 20 

Kentucky Red Streak April 20 

Early Harvest April 21 

Shockly April 27 

Fameuse April 27 

Ben Davis April 29 

Winesap May 5 

Yellow Transparent May 5 

None-such May 7 

Missouri Pippin May 10 

Alexander May 15 

Smiths Cider May 15 

Transcendent Crab Mar 30 

Hyslop Crab April 1 1 

Montreal Crab April 16 

* Indicates that the variety is approved in the regit 
** Most highly commended. 

is an interesting fact that these varieties by This is a later range of bloom than will be 

virtue of quality have overcome the popular found in many parts of the state, but the 
fervor for a red apple. same relation may be expected everywhere. 



Full bloom 


General fall 
of bloom. 


April 


27 


May 


5 


April 


30 


May 


12 


April 


30 


May 


16 


May 


5 


May 


15 


May 


5 


May 


lb 


May 


10 


May 


20 


May 


6 


Mav 


12 


May 


15 


May 


20 


May 


15 


May 


22 


May 


15 


May 


23 


Maj' 


17 


June 




May 


16 


June 




Mav 


16 


June 




May 


20 


June 




May 


25 


June 




Mav 


25 


June 


6 


April 


7 


April 


22 


April 


22 


April 


30 


April 


24 


May 


7 



designated. 



How to Grow Them 



165 



V'arieties Grown in California 



VARIETIES OF APPLES CHIEFLY 
GROWN IX CALIFORNIA. 

Of the hundreds of varieties tested in 
Cahfornia comparatively few are now grown, 
as has already been suggested. Those named 
below have been reported by growers as 
succeeding in localities named with the de- 
scription, or indicated in the table which will 
follow. The descriptions of the standard 
sorts are, in the main, condensed from Down- 
ing,* with local notes interpolated when 
thought necessary. The arrangement is, ap- 
proximat'^ly in the order of ripening. 

Carolina Red June (Southern). — Medium size oval, 
irregular, inclined to conic ; deep red covered with 
light bloom; stalk in small cavity; calyx closed; 
flesh white, tender, juicy, subacid; core rather large. 

Early Harvest (American). — Medium size, round- 
ish ; straw color with few faint white dots ; stalk 
half to three-fourths inch, slender, set in moderate 
cavity; caly.x in shallow basin; flesh very white, 
tender, crisp, pleasant. 

Early Straivberry (New York). — Medium size, 
roundish, narrowing towards the eye ; skin smooth, 
deep red on yellow ground; stalk one and a half 
inches, rather slender and uneven, in deep cavity ; 
caly-x small, in shallow basin ; flesh white, tinged with 
red ne.xt the skin, tender, subacid, sprightly. 

Red Astracan (Russian). — Large roundish; skin 
deep red, save greenish yellow in the shade ; pale 
white bloom ; stalk short, and deeply inserted ; 
calyx partially closed and set in slight basin ; flesh 
white, juicy and crisp, pleasant acid: tree hardy and 
vigorous, and an early bearer. The main reliance in 
California for an early apple. 

White Astracan (Russian). — Large, roundish; skin 
smooth and nearly white, with faint streaks of red, 
and covered with white bloom ; flesh white. Con- 
siderably grown in the Sacramento Valley and foot- 
hills for early shipment. Sometimes attains a weight 
of 2g ounces. Excellent in the Modesto district of 
the San Joaquin valley. 

Duchess of Oldenburg (Russian). — Large, round- 
ish, oblate ; yellow, streaked with red ; calyx large, 
nearly closed, set in wide, even hollow; flesh juicy, 
subacid. 

Gravenstein (German). — Large, rather flattened; a 
little one-sided or angular; broadest at base; stalk 
short, strong, deeply set ; calyx large, closed, in a 
large basin ; skin yellow, freely marked with light 
and deep red and orange; flesh tender, crisp, highly 
flavored, aromatic ; a strong-growing and heavily- 
bearing tree ; a standard fall apple in this State. 

Red Bietigheimer (German). — Large to very large, 
oblate, slightly conical, regular; smooth, whitish or. 
yellowish white, shaded with light and dark red, and 
purplish crimson in the sun; stalk short, rather stout; 
caly.x closed in large, deep, slightly corrugated basin ; 
flesh white, firm, juicy, brisk subacid. 



Maiden's Blush (New Jersey.) — Rather large, 
smooth regular; yellow, with evenly shaded red 
cheek ; stalk short, in rather wide, deep hollow ; 
calyx closed in moderate depression ; flesh white, 
tender, sprightly. 

Fall Pippin. — Very large, roundish, a Uttle flat- 
tened; stalk three-fourths inch, projecting consider- 
ably beyond the fruit (which distinguishes it from 
the Holland Pippin) ; calyx open, not very large, 
rather deeply sunk in round, narrow basin; skin 
smooth, yellowish green, becoming pure yellow; 
brownish blush and few scattered dots; flesh white 
tender, mellow, rich, aromatic. 

Alexander (Russian). — Very large, showy, conical, 
greenish yellow, streaked with red in shade, bright 
red in the sun ; calyx large, in deep basin ; stalk 
slender, long, in deep cavity; flesh yellowish white, 
crisp, tender, and juicy. Tree vigorous but not al- 
ways a good bearer. 

Gloria Mundi. — Very large, roundish, oblate; 
ribbed ; greenish yellow. A popular show apple on 
account of great size attained in this State. (See 
table.) 

Famcuse; syn. Snou' Apple (Canada). — Medium 
size, roundish, somewhat flattened ; deep crimson, 
nearly concealing pale yellowish ground ; flesh snowy 
white, tender, juicy, slight perfume; stalk slender, 
one-half inch, in narrow funnel-shaped cavity; calyx 
small, in shallow, rather narrow basin ; "tree vig- 
orous, with dark wood ; one of the finest dessert 
fruits ; succeeds particularly well in the foot-hills." 
— John Bid'cvell. 

King of Tompkins County. — Large, globular, angu- 
lar, inclining to conic ; yellowish, mostly shaded with 
red, striped and splashed with crimson ; stalk short 
and stout, in large, somewhat irregtilar cavity; calyx 
small, closed; flesh yellowish, rich juicy, vinous, 
aromatic ; chiefly grown in mountain regions. 

Rambo (Pennsylvania). — Medium to large, flat; 
yellowish white with pale yellow and red in the sun, 
with large, rough dots ; stalk long, rather slender, 
curved, deeply set ; calyx closed, in broad basin ; 
flesh greenish white. Reported a failure in some 
counties. 

Ben Davis. — Large, roundish, sides often unequal ; 
light red and deep red on yellowish ground; stalk 
medium, rather_ slender, in deep, narrow cavity; 
calyx partially open. Commended as a market apple 
by the Southern California Nurserymen's Associa- 
tion. Grown in the upper Sacramento Valley, some- 
times keeps until July i. 

Baldwin (Massachusetts). — Large, roundish, nar- 
rowing a little towards the eye ; deep bright red 
over a yellow ground ; few russet dots ; caly.x closed 
and set in narrow basin; stalk one-half to three- 
fourths inch, rather slender, set in deep, even cavity; 
flesh yellowish-white, crisp, juicy, subacid. Best in 
northern and elevated regions ; coloring varies greatly 
according to locality. 

Hoover (South Carolina). — Large, roundish, 
slightly oblique ; yellowish, mostly overspread with 
red. with conspicuous light dots; stalk rather long, 
in large cavity; calyx open in furrowed basin; flesh 
yellowish, juicy, crisp, acid. 



Varieties Grown in California 



166 



California Fruits 



Rhode Island Greening. — Large, roundish, a little 
flattened, pretty regular ; dark green, becoming yel- 
lowish green; calyx small, woolly, closed, in shallow 
basin ; stalk three-fourths inch, curved, thickest at 
the bottom ; flesh yellow, fine grained, tender, crisp, 
juicy, aromatic, slightly acid; tree healthy and the 
variety widely popular. 

Vandcvere : syn. Ncivton Spitsenburg. — Medium 
size, oblate, slightly conic ; fine yellow, washed with 
light red, striped and splashed with dark red and 
shaded with carmine in the sun ; light bloom and 
peculiar gray specks; stalk short, in wide cavity; 
calyx small, closed ; flesh yellow, rich, sprightly, 
vinous. 

Jonathan (New York). — Medium to large, round- 
ish, conical or tapering to the eye; light yellow 
nearly covered with red stripes and deep red in the 
sun ; stalk three-fourths of an inch, rather slender, 
in deep, regular cavity ; calyx in deep, broad basin ; 
tender, juicy, rich, vinous; a great favorite in Cali- 
fornia ; specially commended as a market apple by 
Southern California Nurserymen's Association ; keeps 
till midwinter. 

Winesap. — Medium size, roundish oblong; dark 
red with traces of yellow in the shade; stalk nearly 
an inch, slender, set in an irregular cavity ; calyx 
small, in regular basin ; flesh yellow, crisp, high, 
rich flavor ; largely grown ; tree a good bearer. 

Stayman H'inesap. — An old improvement on the 
Winesap now becoming more prominent. Some 
growers reporting favorably on Winesap have this 
variety which is larger and better and the tree a 
stronger grower and more productive. Approved by 
Mr. Frank Femmons of Madera county. 

Ortlcy; syn. JVhite BeUfloiver, etc. (New Jersey). 
^Large, oblong, greenish yellow, becoming fine yel- 
low with slight blush ; stalk medium, slender, set 
in deep, acute cavity; calyx closed, set in abrupt 
corrugated basin; flesh white, fine-grained, juicy, 
subacid. 

Szi'aar (New York). — Large, roundish; golden 
yellow with numerous brown specks ; stalk slender, 
three-fourths inch, in very round cavity; caly.x small, 
greenish, set in shallow basin ; flesh yellowish, fine- 
grained ; very rich, aromatic flavor and spicy smell. 

Launicr. — Large, roundish, oblate, dark red, cov- 
ered with small dots ; stalk medium, cavity deep, 
regular ; caly.x small, closed, in medium furrowed 
l.iasin ; flesh white, sprightly, aromatic; a promising, 
late keeping variety. 

Yellow Bellflower (New Jersey). — Very large, 
oblong, irregular, tapering toward the eye; smooth; 
lemon color, with blush ; stalk long and slender, 
in deep cavity; calyx closed, in rather narrow basin; 
flesh tender, juicy, crisp, with sprightly, subacid 
flavor; keeps well into the winter; tree a strong 
grower and healthy; one of the universal favorites 
in California. 

Romanitc. — Small to medium, roundish conical, 
truncated ; yellow, mostly covered with clear, hand- 
some red ; indistinct light dots ; stalk slender ; calyx ■ 
in an abrupt basin ; flesh yellowish, fine-grained, 
juicy, pleasant, subacid. 

Esopus Spitsenburg (New York). — Large, oblong, 
tapering roundly to the eye ; smooth, nearly covered 
with rich, lively red, dotted with distinct yellowish 



russet dots ; on shaded side, yellowish ground with 
streaks and broken stripes of red ; stalk rather long, 
three-fourths inch, slender, projecting beyond the 
base and inserted in wide cavity; caly.x small and 
closed, in shallow basin; flesh yellow, rather firm 
crisp, juicy, with a delicious rich, brisk flavor. A 
largely grown variety ; tree a good, upright grower 
and healthy; fruit keeps fairly. 

Hyde King. — Very large, glistening golden yellow 
with blush, very handsome. Ripens Oct. 15 in Hum- 
boldt county. Approved by A. F. Etter. 

Smith's Cider (Pennsylvania). — Large, roundish, 
oblate conic ; yellow, shaded and striped with red, 
sparsely covered with gray dots; stalk slender, in 
deep, rather narrow cavity; calyx closed, in broad 
shallow basin; flesh whitish, juicy, crisp, acid; tree 
a strong grower, and fruit keeps till midwinter. 

Rome Beauty (Ohio). — Large, roundish, approach- 
ing conic; yellow, shaded and striped with bright red, 
sprinkled with light dots ; stalk one inch, in large, 
deep cavity; calyx partially closed, in deep, narrow 
basin; flesh yellowish, juicy, sprightly; frtiit keeps 
late. Particularly fine in the mountain valleys of 
Southern California. 

Missouri Pippin. (Missouri). — Large, roundish ob- 
late, slightly oblique, somewhat flattened at the ends ; 
shaded, striped and splashed with light and dark 
red, often quite dark in the sun ; many large and 
small gray dots ; stalk short, small ; cavity large, 
deep ; calyx closed or half open, basin rather abrupt 
deep, slightly corrugated ; flesh whitish, rather 
coarse, moderately juicy, subacid. Quite largely 
planted, but losing favor for lack of keeping quality 
in coast valleys. 

Nickajack (North Carolina). — Large, roundish to 
roundish oblate, slightly conic, sometimes oblique; 
yellowish, freely striped and splashed with red, many 
large dots; stalk short, in large cavity; calyx partly 
open; flesh yellowish, fair quality; reported a shy 
bearer in high altitudes. 

Northern Spy (New York). — Large, roundish, ob- 
late conical; pale yellow, purplish red stripes in the 
sun ; stalk three-fourths inch, slender, in wide, deep 
cavity; calyx small, closed; flesh white, mild, pleas- 
ant ; highly esteemed in a few localities, but aban- 
doned in others for shy bearing. 

White Winter Pearmain. — Large, roundish oblong 
conic, somewhat oblique ; pale yellow with slight 
blush, many minute brown dots ; stalk short in deep 
cavity; calyx nearly closed; flesh yellowish, tender, 
crisp, juicy, very pleasant subacid, e.xtra high flavor; 
grown everywhere, and fruit keeps late ; tree a strong 
grower and healthy. 

Lady (French). — Small, regularly formed, flat; 
smooth and glossy, with brilliant red cheek contrast- 
ing with lemon yellow ground ; flesh white, crisp, 
juicy and pleasant; chiefly used for ornamental pur- 
poses. 

Black Ben Davis. — Resembles Ben Davis in tree 
and fruit, except that the latter is deeper colored, 
more symmetrical and of better quality. Highly 
praised by Mr. Frank Femmons, Madera county. 

Delicious. — Resembling Bellflower ; yellow, almost 
covered with dark red; very mild acid, quality good; 
a late keeper. Also approved by Mr. Femmons. 



How to Grow Them 



167 Tabular Showing of Adaptations 



Arkansas Beauty (Arkansas). — Medium to large, 
oblong conical, yellow and red stripes, fine, juicy, 
very good, subacid. Approved in Southern Cali- 
fornia. 

Rawles Janet (Virginia). — Medium to large, oblate 
conic, yellowish, shaded with red and striped with 
crimson; stalk short and thick, in broad, open cavity; 
calyx partially open, in shallow basin ; flesh yellow, 
tender, juicy, pleasant vinous flavor; tree healthy 
and prolific. 

Stark. — Large, roundish, inclined to conic ; some- 
times elongated, sometimes oblique ; greenish yellow, 
nearly covered with dark red and sprinkled with 
light and brown dots; stalk short, rather stout; 
calyx closed ; flesh yellowish. 

Yellozd' Newtown Pippin. — Large, roundish, oblate 
and oblique, more or less flattened ; yellow with 
brownish red cheek; stalk very short; flesh firm, 
crisp, juicy, and with very rich, high flavor. Gener- 
ally considered the best winter apple in California. 

CRAB APPLES. 

Hyslop. — Fruit large, growing in clusters ; round- 
ish ovate ; dark rich red. covered with thick blue 
bloom ; stalk long, slender ; calyx closed ; flesh 
yellowish. 

Large Red Siberian. — Roundish ovate with large 
and prominent calyx; pale red and yellow skin. 

Large Yellow Siberian. — Fruit similar in size to 
foregoing, roundish oval, flattened at base and crown ; 
light clear yellow, inclining to amber, with warm 
cheek. 

Transeendant. — Medium to large, roundish oval, 
flattened at the ends, slightly but regularly ribbed ; 
golden yellow, with rich, crimson cheek, or nearly 
covered with red ; delicate white bloom ; stalk long 
and slender, in open, deep cavity; calyx closed; 
flesh creamy, yellow. 

Montreal Beauty. — Large, roundish oblate; bright 
yellow, mostly covered and shaded with red ; one 
of the most beautiful of crab apples. 

Whitney's Crab. — Large, handsome, greenish yel- 
low, striped with crimson. 

CALIFORNLA SEEDLING APPLES. 

Skinner's Seedling (Name approved by California 
State Horticultural Society, November, 1887). Syn. 
Skinner's Pippin, Santa Clara King. — Originated with 
Judge H. C. Skinner, of San Jose. Fruit large to 
very large ; form oblate, conic, slightly mixed ; color 
rich lemon yellow, faintly striped with bright red ; 
flesh yellowish white, very tender, juicy, sprightly, 
mild subacid ; quality best. Season, September and 
October. 

Marshall's Red (Name approved by California 
State Horticultural Society, November, 1887). Syn. 
Red Bellflower, Marshall's Seedling. — Originated with 
J. L. Marshall. Brown's Valley, near Napa. Fruited 
first about 1877; introduced by Leonard Coates in 
1884. The tree resembles Red June in habit of 
growth ; fruit large, same shape as Yellow Bellflower. 
but of same color as Red June ; quality very good ; 
flesh firm and fine-grained: aromatic, and slightly 
more acid than the Yellow Bellflower; tree, a very 
heavy bearer, and the fruit ripens in October in the 
bay region. 



Magoon. — Large, roundish oblong, deep red shad- 
ing to light red on yellow ground ; resembling Esopus 
Spitzenburg in form, flesh and flavor. Found in 
1893 on place formerly occupied by S. E. Magoon 
near Ahwahnee. Named by Frank Femmons. 

Cook's Seedling; syn. Sonoma Seedling. — Brought 
to notice by O. B. Shaw, of Sonoma, as a seedling 
raised by David Cook from the seed of the Juneat- 
ing. Above medium size, pale yellow striped with 
red ; sharp acid flavor.. Not decidedly rich, but flavor 
full and acceptable. Excellent keeping qualities. 
Chiefly grown in S'onoma and Napa Counties. 

Lawton. — Seedling on place of Mrs. F. H. Lawton, 
one half mile north of Sebastopol, Sonoma county. 
More symmetrical than Belmont or Waxen. Very, 
promising show variety. 

Tabular Showing of Adaptations— -In 
preparation for this edition the writer under- 
took special inquiry to secure information 
from growers as to what their choice would 
be if they were to plant apples in 1907 as ex- 
plained in Chapter XVI. The result is a 
large shrinkage in the list of varieties which 
are now thought to be worth planting in the 
different parts of the State. 

An attempt is made to district the State 
for the apple, and for the other fruits which 
follow, in accordance with the scheme of 
climatic divisions described in Chapter I. 
This groups regions of nearest resemblance, 
and is more rational than any prescription 
according to county lines can be, for though 
some counties lie wholly in one climatic di- 
vision, many more counties extend through 
two, and some even through three, such di- 
visions. It is, therefore, a more promising 
proposition to encourage planters in any lo- 
cality to study their climatic adaptations, not 
with regard to county lines but rather as they 
are related to the conditions of elevation, ex- 
posure to ocean influences and other factors 
which characterize natural belts, or areas, of 
similar horticultural fitness. The only in- 
stances in which these agencies are grouped 
geographically, is in constituting southern 
California a division by itself. This is a rec- 
ognition of the fact that though in southern 
California coast and interior differences clear- 
ly exist, they were not so marked, until the 
development of the Colorado river region be- 
gan, as they are in the upper portions of the 
State, and there is consequently less marked 
contrast in suitability to various fruits. This 
concession to the south as sui generis also es- 
capes, or answers instead of a third division 
of coast valleys, for the older fruit districts 
of southern California have a mollified or 



Varieties Approved 



168 



California Fruits 



Apple varieties approved by California growers. 



Northerr 
Coast 
region. 



Central 
Coast 
region. 



Interior 


Mountain 




valleys 


vallevs 


Southen 


and 


and 


Californi 


foot-hills. 


plateau. 





Alexander 

Arkansas Beauty 

Arkansas Black 

Baldwin 

Ben Davis 

Bietigheimer 

Black Ben Davis 

Cook's Seedling 

Delicious 

Early Harvest 

Early Strawberry 

Esopus Spitzenburg 

Fall Pippin 

Fameuse 

Gravenstein 

Gloria Mundi 

Hoover 

Jonathan 

Langford 

Lawver 

Maiden's Blush 

Marshall's Red 

Missouri Pippin 

Nickajack 

Northern Spy 

Oldenburg Duchess 

Ortley 

Rawles' Janet 

Red Astracan 

Red June 

Red Pearniain 

Rhode Island Greening. . 

Romanite 

Rome Beauty 

Smith's Cider 

Skinner's Seedling 

Stark 

Stayman Winesap 

Swaar 

Tompkins King 

Vandevere 

Wagener 

Wealthy 

White Astracan 

White Winter Pearmain . 

Williams' Favorite 

Winesap 

Winter Banana 

Yellow Bellflower 

Yellow Newton Pippin.. 

Yellow Transparent 

York Imperial 



' Indicates that the variety 
" Most highly commended. 



How to Grow Them 



169 



Varieties Approved 



subdued coast climate, their region of strictly 
interior valley and foot-hill climate being re- 
stricted by the fact that practically almost all 
their cultivated area, until recently, lay south 
and west of their high mountains. It is an 
interesting fact that the California coast cli- 
mates north and south show much greater 
contrasting conditions than do the interior 
valley regions, north and south, and south- 
ern California being so largely in the coast 
class could on this basis of wide coast vari- 



ations claim a distinctive designation, though 
it could hardly be granted on the comparison 
of interior valley characters throughout the 
State. Just what efifect the development of 
fruit growing in the great interior valley of 
southern California, which is irrigated from 
the Colorado river, will have upon the future 
re-classification of the horticultural divisions 
of the State cainiot now be determined for 
the planting of all kinds of fruit is but now 
beginning. 




The Apricot 



170 



California Fruits ; 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



CALIFORNIA THE HOME OF THE APRICOT. 



CALIFORNIA has nearly three miUion 
apricot trees which stand in the 
open air without protection of any kind and 
bear large, luscious fruit. That apricot trees 
can do this constitutes one of the unique fea- 
tures of California fruit growing and pro- 
claims it different from fruit growing in other 
States, for, excepting a few localities in other 
parts of the Pacific slope, California has a mon- 
opoly of commercial apricot growing, and no- 
where else in the world does the fruit attain 
such commercial importance. Although the 
apricot has been grown here from the earliest 
days of the American occupation, and though 
since the opening of the export trade in 
canned and dried fruits, the apricot has 
gained in popularity, the planting of apri- 
cot orchards has not proceeded recently with 
great rapidity, although indications are that 
our distant patrons are only just beginning 
to recognize the desirability of the fruit, and 
their demands will make it well-nigh impossi- 
ble for us to extend our production beyond 
profitable limits. The reason why the apri- 
cot has not kept pace with the advance of 
some other fruits in California is to be found 
in certain limitations of suitable area which 
will be mentioned presently. 

Though the apricot has some pests and 
diseases to contend with, they have thus far 
proved slight evils, and the tree is generally 
regarded as one of our healthiest and most 
vigorous, as it certainly is one of our most 
beautiful orchard trees. It is long-lived and 
attains great size. There are here and there 
groups of trees nearly half a century old 
which have a height of fifty feet; the main 
trunks like forest oaks, and the first branches 
or limbs twelve and fifteen inches through. 
The smaller limbs and foliage are at least 
fifty feet across ; a half dozen of them shade 
an acre of ground and they sometimes yield 
per tree a ton of fruit. But such trees do not 
meet orchard requirements and are only men- 
tioned to show what the tree may do when 
it has its own wav. 



The apricot is a rapid grower and an early 
and heavy bearer in California. In the in- 
terior and in the southern coast valleys it 
yields a paying crop during its third summer 
in the orchard, and from eight to fourteen 
tons to the acre was reached for several 
years in succession, in Judge Blackwood's 
old orchard of Royal apricots, in Alameda 
County. The trees, even of some varieties 
which are uncertain bearers, are large and 
vigorous growers, and have warranted the 
suggestion that there is a use for the apricot 
tree for a windbreak for the protection of 
pther trees. The trees may be planted near 
together in strong land and make a wind- 
6reak that will pay its way without regard 
to such fruit as it may incidentally produce. 

Apricots are chiefly marketed as a dried 
fruit and the operation of drying will be de- 
scribed in the chapter devoted to such pro 
cesses. The amount used in canning is, in a 
year of full production, about one-quarter of 
that for drying, while the weight of fruit 
sold fresh to consumers, near and far, is 
about one-quarter of that used by the can- 
ners. The total product of apricots in 1905 
ivas appro.ximately 175.000,000 pounds, fresh 
weight. 

LOCALITIES FOR THE APRICOT. 

In discussing localities for the apricot, 
reference is, of course, only made to its 
growth as a standard orchard tree without 
protection of any kind. It shows even in 
California that it does not forget the con- 
ditions which destroy its thrift elsewhere, 
for late frosts in our upper coast counties 
render it, as a rule, unprofitable. Speaking 
broadly, the quarter of the State lying north- 
ward of the Bay of San Francisco and west- 
ward of the high ridge of the Coast Range is 
n(/t suited for commercial apricot growing, 
though here and there there are places where 
bearing may be regular and abundant enough 
to make trees satisfactory for home gardens. 



How to Grow Them 



171 



Localities for the Apricot 



The mountain regions everywhere in the 
Slate above an elevation of about 1200 feet 
are also to be excluded. The lowest lands 
oi the great interior valleys, except here and 
th;re, where frosts are prevented by prox- 
imity of broad streams or by favoring air 
ci rrents, are unsuited for apricots, and the 
b( ttoms of small valleys whence cold air 
a nnot find drainage outlet, are also treach- 
eious. It is evident, then, that even in re- 
g.ons of general adaptation to the fruit, local 
discrimination must be exercised in selecting 
lands for apricots, and the occurrence of 
spring frosts, which are usually governed by 
topography, must be guarded against. This 
i i not the same problem which arises in the 
selection of land for citrus fruits, because 
■'ipricots are not open to injury during Decem- 
ber, January and February, and consequently 
ihey may be successfully grown in places 
rtfhere winter temperatures might injure the 
evergreen trees of the citrus family. Still, 
next to the almond, the apricot is most liable 
to frost injury of all our deciduous tree 
fruits, and commercial success depends large- 
ly upon the selection of a proper place for 
them. The occurrence of even light frosts 
during the blooming and setting, or soon 
after, may strip the tree of its burden of 
fruit W'ithout injury to even the softest tis- 
sues of twig and leaf; consequently regular 
bearing of the apricot cannot be expected 
where the temperature is apt to fall four or 
five degrees below freezing point during the 
months of March and April, even though the 
duration of such temperature may be very 
brief. For this reason the area of California 
which is well suited to apricot growing is 
limited when compared with the great area 
of the State, though when counted by acres 
it is ample enough to supply all the fresh 
canned and dried apricots which the markets 
of the world can be expected to take at profit- 
able figures. 

It is often claimed that situations directly 
subject to ocean influences are best for the 
apricot. It is noted by many observers that 
the apricot "points its best branches to the 
ocean, in the very teeth of the constant breeze, 
and the landward limbs and twigs bend up 
and endeavor to reach in the same direction. 
Tliis is patent in every tree, and in the long 
orchard rows is very striking." This is 
taken to signify the special liking of the tree 
for the vicinitv of the coast. It is well 



enough to interpret it that way, providing 
one does not lose sight of the perfect success 
of the apricot in the interior as well. It is 
true that the fruit near the coast attains 
higher color, and the less rapid growth of the 
tree makes it somewhat easier to handle, but 
the earlier ripening in the interior, coupled 
with freedom from fog and constant sun- 
shine for drying, are points of the highest in- 
dustrial importance. The fact is that the 
apricot has a very wide range in California, 
and though the trees have been cut out at 
some points it has been chiefly because too 
frosty locations have been chosen or because 
some other fruit has seemed to be locally 
more desirable, for one reason or another. 

In some valleys in the upper part of the 
State opening directly to the ocean, there is 
sometimes complaint of the cracking of the 
fruit on the sunny side. The alternation of 
sunshine and fog seems to have something 
to do with this, for in favorable years, when 
fogs are few, the fruit is sound. 

Locations for early ripening of the apricot 
are to be chosen with reference to the in- 
fluence of topography, as laid down in 
Chapter I. In a general way, it may be said, 
in regions directly subject to coast influences, 
both in northern and southern California, the 
apricot is late. On the west side of the Sac- 
ramento Valley, on slightly elevated places, 
in small, hill-locked valleys, the earliest apri- 
cots have been grown for years.. Protected 
situations in the foot-hills of the Sierra Ne- 
vada, on the eastern rim of both the Sacra- 
mento and San Joaquin Valleys, share in the 
production of the earliest ripening fruit. 
There is, probably, about a month's difference 
in the ripening of the same variety in the 
earliest interior situations and in the coast 
valleys of both northern and southern Cali- 
fornia. 

In tlie interior of southern California, in 
irrigated situations, 011 the west side of the 
Colorado River and in adjacent parts of Ariz- 
ona, apricots rival in earliness the product 
of the famous valleys of interior northern 
California. 

Recently a measure of success with the 
apricot has been attained in irrigated sections 
of eastern Washington, Idaho and Utah. 
If winter temperatures are low enough to 
keep the tree dormant and yet not to injure 
fruit buds and frosts are absent after growth 
begins, success ought to be attainable. 



Planting the Apricot 



172 



California Frnits 



STOCKS AND SOILS FOR THE 
APRICOT. 

Because of the success with which tlie 
apricot can be budded on various stocks, it 
has a wide range in adaptation to different 
soils. Budded on the peach root it may be 
grown successfully on the light, warm, well- 
drained loams in which the peach delights. 
The peach root is, in fact, largely used for 
the apricot. It gives the tree cjuick growth 
and early fruiting, and the fact that the go- 
pher does not like the peach root is a con- 
sideration with some planters. In growing 
stock, pits of a strong-growing yellow peach 
are believed to yield more uniform and thrifty 
seedlings. 

For deep, rich, well-drained, loamy soils, 
the apricot on its own root makes a magnifi- 
cent tree. Apricot root's for budding are 
easily secured. The pits sprout as readily as 
corn. Sometimes, where cutting and drying 
are done in the orchard, the ground the 
next spring will be almost covered with a 
volunteer crop of seedling apricots. These 
little plants, taken up and set out in nursery 
rows in March, are ready for budding in 
June or July. Large numbers of trees are 
sometimes secured in this way. In the upper 
San Joaquin Valley there are situations in 
which the apricot seems more productive 
on its own roots than on the peach, and in the 
moister parts of the San Fernando and 
tributary valleys in southern California the 
apricot root has recently advanced in popu- 
larity. It is, however, rather more sensitive 
to soil-drouth than the peach root. 

When it is desired to grow the apricot in 
moister and heavier soils than have been 
described, or where a light soil is underlaid 
by a heavy, retentive subsoil, recourse should 
be had to the plum root. Only a non-suck- 
ering plum stock should be used. For this 
purpose the Myrobalan has been considerably 
used. Some growers complain that the root 
has a dwarfing effect on the tree, and object 
to its use. The manner of securing Myro- 
balan stocks has been described in the Chap- 
ter on propagation. 

Apricot on Almond. — The almond should 
as a rule be rejected as a stock for the apri- 
cot. Hundreds have tried it, and found that 
the scion never made a good union with the 
wood of the stock, but was knit to it only 



by the bark, and is, therefore, easily broken 
off by the wind. It may grow well and 
sometimes gets to be two or three inches in 
diameter before it breaks off, thus wasting 
much time for the orchardist. Whole or- 
chards worked in this way have been a loss 
and disappointment. 

A few growers, however, approve the 
almond and use it with the idea that it gives 
larger fruit. It has been claimed that the 
Royal apricot will take well on the almond 
seedling by root grafting, instead of budding, 
using the side graft. Cut off the top of the 
stock about four to six inches above ground, 
scrape away the dirt, bend the stock, and, 
with a sharp, thin knife, cut into the root to 
the center, making the cut perpendicular, so 
that the graft will be that way when inserted. 
The scion should be made wedge-shaped. 
After insertion, draw the loose earth around 
it, and the work is done until the graft has 
made a growth of eighteen to twenty-four 
inches. This is given as a record of experi- 
ence, hut still caution is urged against the use 
of the almond as stock for the apricot. 

The apricot may also be made to hold on 
the almond by double working, growing first 
a shoot from a peach or plum bud and then 
working an apricot bud higher up in the new 
shoot. 

In addition to the specifications of certain 
stocks for different soils, it may be remarked, 
in a general way, that the apricot seems to 
thrive better on a tolerably heavy soil, with 
enough sand to make it work easily, than on a 
very light soil. It does well on soil rather 
too heavy for the peach. It also enjoys 
moisture better and gives signs of distress 
unless its roots are fairly supplied all during 
the season, but it dislikes standing water and 
should not be planted on undrained situations 

PLANTING THE APRICOT. 

The apricot becomes a large tree in Cali- 
fornia, as has already been remarked, and 
it should be given plenty of room. Twenty- 
four feet each way is certainly a minimum 
distance for so large and long-lived a tree, 
and some orchards have been planted at 
thirty feet. If nearer planting is done it 
should be with reference to subsequent re- 
moval of part of the trees, which however 
is very seldom done. Twenty feet apart, with 
later removal of half the trees to double the 



How to Grow Them 



173 



Pruning the Apricot 



distance was proposed by H. D. Briggs, of 
Azuza, in this way : 

In setting out an orchard it seems advisable to 
double set the ground, as an apricot twelve to fifteen 
years old should have not less than 800 to 900 square 
feet of ground. This can easily be obtained by set- 
ting 20x20 feet; then when nine or ten years old 
remove every other tree, making them forty feet in 
the row, with rows twenty feet apart, of course, tak- 
ing them out diagonally. The trees will very quickly 
tell the orchardist when they are too thick. When 
the outside rows have twice the fruit of those inside, 
it is quite evident that the time spent in pruning, etc., 
on half of the trees is worse than wasted. I have 
cut roots 40 feet from a nine-year-old tree. 

The apricot makes such rapid growth and 
so much depends upon giving it proper form, 
as will be seen presently, that one year's 
growth is all that should be allowed in the 
nursery. Some growers would rather have 
a dormant bud than a two-year-old tree, 
and cases have been reported from , dormant 
buds outgrowing yearling trees planted at 
the same time in the same orchard. But in 
growing from a dormant bud in the orchard 
care should be taken to develop a short trunk, 
with properly-spaced branches, by pinching 
the side shoots near the ground. Trees 
started from dormant bud and allowed to 
branch from the ground, have developed 
very unsatisfactory form, and have, in some 
situations, lost their lower branches by the 
wind. The tree should have a low head, but 
a short trunk seems to give a better tree, and 
more elasticity to the branches. 

PRUNING THE APRICOT. 

Of all California orchard trees, the apricot 
seems most in need of the constant attention 
of the orchardist to give it proper shape and 
strength. It is a rampant grower, and in its 
zealous haste for size and fruitage it over- 
reaches itself and becomes the prey of specific 
gravity and wind force. Thousands of trees 
have been ruined by literally breaking to 
pieces with the weight of their fruit, and be- 
ing torn by winds of only ordinary velocity. 
Thousands more have been rescued froin such 
a fate by bolting the branches to each other. 
This excessive growth and consequent weak- 
ne-^s of the apricot is greater in some parts 
of the State than in others, because of the 
difference in degree of forcing conditions, 
but everywhere the apricot needs watchful- 
ness and timely aid in building up its strength. 
The general principles to be observed in se- 



curing branches strongly attached to a short 
trunk have already been discussed at length 
in the chapter on pruning. 

There has been a very marked change 
during the last few years of the pruning of 
the apricot. Summer pruning, immediately 
after the fruit is picked, has become much 
more general, and winter pruning has propor- 
tionally decreased. The new practice is cer- 
tainly more rational than the old. Young 
trees are winter pruned to promote low 
branching and short, stout limbs ; bearing 
trees are summer pruned to promote fruit 
bearing and check wood growth — the excess 
of bearing shoots being removed by thinning 
during the winter. 

The apricot tree bears upon old spurs, like 
the plum ; also upon the new wood, like the 
peach. This fact has to be borne in mind 
when winter thinning of the new growth is 
undertaken. 

A very clear record of procedure is given 
by J. B. Nefi", of Anaheim, Orange County, 
who built tip one of the best apricot orchards 
in the State as he describes. This orchard has 
been displaced to make way for English wal- 
nut trees which are more profitable in that 
district, but that was no fault of the pruning: 

Pruning the apricot requires some skill and con- 
siderable judgment, which can only be formed by 
experience and observation of the habits of the tree. 
Trees of four to five feet in height are preferable 
for planting, and when planted should be trimmed 
to a single stem and cut off at eighteen inches from 
the ground. These will throw out shoots vigorously 
and frequently two or three shoots from one bud. 
These shoots should be thinned out, leaving not more 
than four or five, no two of which should come from 
one bud. nor be directly opposite. The first shoot 
should start twelve inches from the ground, the 
others in such a man;ier as to divide the space and 
make the branches balance, leaving the top shoot to 
form the central part of the tree. 

It will be necessary to go over the trees several 
times the first year to remove shoots that may start 
where not wanted, but no general heading back 
should be done, as it tends to dwarf the tree ; though 
if some of the limbs are making an overgrowth they 
should be pinched back to keep the head balanced. 

The pruning of the second year should be done in 
January, as the tree will not be dormant until then, 
if it has been kept in a thriftv condition. The first 
year's growth should be cut back to within five to 
ten inches of the body of the tree, and all forks 
should be cut out. even if it necessitates forming a 
new head, as it is much better to lose some growth 
on a young tree than to take the risk of splitting 
down when the tree begins to bear fruit. 

When the shoots start for the second year's growth, 
take off all that come on the under side of the limbs 
and thin to one, two. or three, as may be needed to 



Thinning the Apricot 



174 



California Fruits : 



balance the tree, bearing in mind that an apricot tree 
inclines toward the coast breezes in this locality. 

The second year will require much more attention 
than the first year, in order to keep off suckers and 
all lateral growth that may start on the under side- 
of the new limbs, the object being to make the limbs 
grow as nearly upright as possible. The remark 
on heading back holds good for the second year also. 

The trees will become dormant earlier the second 
year than they did the first, but should not be trim- 
med earlier than December, and a month later is 
preferable, as the ends of the limbs are not exposed 
to the drying winds so long before the sap begins to 
f^ow and consequently will heal over better. The 
second year's growth should now be cut back to with- 
in fifteen to twenty inches of the old wood, except the 
central stem, which may be left twenty-four to thirty 
inches long, depending on the number of laterals it 
may have thrown out. When the new shoots start 
they should again be thinned down to two or three 
on each limb, and all taken off that tend to turn 
down or out at right angles, but do not take off the 
fruit spurs. 

The trees will need to be gone over about three 
times before July to remove suckers and lateral 
growth that may start on the lower side of the limbs, 
as the tendency in the third year is to make an im- 
mense growth of downward laterals, and these must 
be taken off so as to develop wood that is to be left 
for fruit. If the orchard is on good land and has 
been properly irrigated and cultivated, the trees 
should now be large enough to begin to yield fruit. 
The object in trimming during the first two years 
and the first half of the third year has been to grow 
a vigorous upright tree, with strong limbs, capable of 
carrying a heavy load of large fruit, and to get the 
fruit as close to the body of the tree as possible. 

There will be a few specimens of the fruit the 
third year, and as soon as these are gathered the 
trees should be summer pruned for the first time, 
care being taken that the land shall have been al- 
lowed to become moderately dry so that the trees 
may be partially dormant.- If the downward growth 
of the laterals has been kept cut off, all that remains 
to be done is to cut off about one-half of all this 
season's growth all over the tree, using the same 
judgment as before with reference to prevailing 
winds and symmetry of tree. If this is properly done 
and water at once turned on the orchard, a new 
growth will be made and the fruit buds for next year 
fully developed. 

The only pruning necessary in the following win- 
ter will be to take out any cross limbs and sprouts 
that may have been overlooked in the summer. 

After the trees begin to produce regular crops they 
will not grow so vigorously, and the numerous prun- 
ings of the first three years will not be necessary, 
as almost all can be done by summer pruning until 
the trees get so old that they need the old wood 
taken out. This can be more readily done without 
damage to the trees where from 24 to 30 limbs are 
grown, than in the old method of leaving only eight 
or ten large limbs. 

When it becomes necessary to take out old wood — 
as the best fruit grows on new wood — a few limbs 
can be taken out each year until a full top of new 
wood is again made. 



Winter Pruning. — The evident defect of 
many old apricot orchards is the failure of 
the low-bearing wood and the thicket of brush 
near the ends of long bare limbs. Such trees 
need renewal of the top by vigorous winter 
pruning, which should preferably be done 
toward the close of the dormant season rather 
than early in the winter as formerly. Old 
and unprofitable trees have been reclaimed 
in this way. 

Winter pruning is still the regular method 
in some parts of the State where the condi- 
tions do not favor excessive growth of the 
tree and where summer pruning does not 
seem to be called for. The practice is to re- 
move half or two-thirds of the new growth 
and thin out, by removing entirely enough 
new and old wood to prevent the tree from 
becoming thick and brushy. 

THINNING THE APRICOT. 

All free-fruiting varieties of the apricot 
must be thinned to secure size acceptable to 
purchasers. It is the experience of the oldest 
growers that though thinning is an expensive 
operation, it is very profitable. When half 
the fruit is taken off in thinning, the remain- 
der reaches as large aggregate weight as 
though the whole were allowed to mature, and 
the thintied fruit is worth about twice as 
much per pound. Even if less weight is 
secured, and in most cases the purpose should 
be to get less weight, the tree is spared the 
exhaustion of overbearing and the owner es 
capes a year of little or no fruit A discussion 
of this subject is given in a previous chapter. 

Where conditions are favorable, the tree 
will set more fruit than it can bring to full 
size, and for this reason thinning or spacing 
the fruit on the twigs by hand-picking, while 
the fruit is about the size of a pigeon's egg, 
is almost a universal practice among the best 
commercial growers. This is necessary to 
bring the individual fruits to the diameters 
required by canners or overland shippers, and 
which they scale in price according to size : 
Extras, 2^4 inches; No. i,. 2 inches; No. 2, 
i^ inches. Fruit of less size is hard of sale 
unless the crop happens to be very small. It 
has also been found that thinning to regulate 
size is quite as important when the fruit is 
to be dried by the grower as when sold as 
fresh fruit. 



How to Grow Them 



175 



Diseases of the Apricot 



IRRIGATION OF THE APRICOT. 
Whether the apricot shall be irrigated or 
not is answered in the chapter on irrigation. 
In many locations, with proper pruning, thin- 
ning and cultivation, perfectly satisfactory 
fruit can be grown with the usual rainfall. 
In others a single winter irrigation will sat- 
isfy all the needs of the tree ; in others a 
single irrigation just after fruit picking and 
summer pruning will carry the tree through. 
It is a fact, however, that as the trees ad- 
vance in age some supplement to the average 
rainfall is often desirable and in dry year? 
irrigation is the saving of two crops. Some 
idea of the amount of water used can be 
had from the chapter on irrigation. The fol- 
lowing account by Mr. Neff applies to his 
practice in Orange County, which is an aver- 
age situation as to rainfall and atmospheric 
humidity, and is as good a general statement 
as could be made : 



If rains are copious, winter irrigation may be dis- 
pensed with during the first two or three years after 
planting the orchard, but when the trees reach the 
age for bearing fruit the rain water should be sup- 
planted by irrigation water until the soil is thorough- 
ly wet 5 feet deep, and in order to have this, at least 
20 inches of water, including rainfall, must be put on 
the land. Three irrigations should be given the trees 
during the first summer, but it is not necessary to 
wet more than a strip 5 or 6 feet wide along the tree 
rows. The orchard should have three irrigations 
during the second summer and a strip I2 feet wi'de 
should be watered, as the roots are reaching farther 
and the trees require a greater amount of water. 
The irrigation for the first two years should always 
be done before the trees show any want of water, 
so as to keep them growing vigorously. 

All the .space, between the trees should be watered 
the third year and afterward ; but two irrigations 
will be sufficient for the summer. The best time for 
the summer irrigation of bearing apricot trees is 
when the fruit is about half grown, which is usually 
about the second or third week in May. 

If well watered at this tiine the fruit grows to its 
largest, and has time to ripen slowly as the ground 
gradually dries, until it has all the sugar which will 
go into the fruit. An orchard in full bearing that 
has been well watered in the winter should now have 
as much as full lOO inches of water for two hours on 
each acre (equal to four acre-inches). 

The second irrigation should be given as soon as 
possible after the summer pruning is done, in order 
to start the trees growing and develop ths fruit buds 
for the next year. This will not require quite so much 
water as the irrigation in May, but ought to be as 
much as lOO inches of water for one hour on each 
acre. 



DISEASES OF THE APRICOT. 

Though the apricot tree, as has been said, 
is regarded as one of the healthiest fruit 
trees, it is subject to some maladies. Trees 
perish from being set in unsuitable situations, 
and in these cases, if the evil be stagnant 
water in the soil, or penetration to alkaline 
subsoil, the root shows it. Sometimes, how- 
ever, a branch or a whole tree withers and 
dies without apparent cause early in the 
summer, and while the root is still sound. 
The disease is evidently acute, but its cause 
is not known, nor a remedy proposed. It is 
an old trouble of the apricot, and not pe- 
culiar to California. 

The so-called "gum disease" sometimes 
causes injury to trees. The best treatment 
is to cut away the diseased part down to 
healthy wood and cover the wound with 
common lead and oil paint, put on sparingly 
so as not to flow over healthy bark. 

Sotne years certain varieties in particular 
are blackened at the pit and rendered un- 
salable, but the trouble has not thus far 
proved serious generally, except with certain 
varieties which have generally gone out of 
use for that reason. 

The worst injury to tree and fruit is done 
by what is called the "shot-hole fungus" 
(coryiicuni), from its perforations of the 
leaves as though by a charge from a shot- 
gun. It makes ugly scars on the fruit, 
which render it unsalable. The same disease 
also affects the leaves of cherries and plums. 
Thorough use of the Bordeaux mixture de- 
scribed in a later chapter will prevent this 
trouble. 

A disease which is prevalent in some dis- 
tricts of southern California is called ''black 
heart" ; a pith disease which sometimes does 
great injury. No treatment e.Kcept that of 
pruning back to healthy wood has thus far 
been proposed. Root knot is also a serious 
trouble of the apricot as of several other 
trees. It will be considered in the chapter 
devoted to diseases of fruit trees. 

Until recently the apricot has been gener- 
ally free from scale insects, and it is not af- 
fected by those species which are worst on 
some other fruit trees, but recently it has 
been seriously infested in some places with 
black and brown scales, which will be con- 
sidered in a later chapter. 



Varieties Approved 



176 



California Fruits : 



The ripe apricot is sometimes seriously 
assailed by the diabrotica, a small green 
beetle, with twelve black spots upon its wing 
covers. Driving the insects away with smoke 
smudges has been used to some extent. For- 
tunately, the insect only occasionally occurs 
in large numbers. 

VARIETIES OF THE APRICOT. 

Though nearly all standard varieties of the 
apricot have been introduced and planted in 
this State, comparatively few are found on 

Varieties approved by California growers. 



VARIETIES. 

Bergetti 

Blenheim 

Early Golden 

Early Moorpark 

Hemskirke 

Large Early 

Large Early Montgamet 

Luizet 

Moorpark 

Newcastle 

Oullin's Early 

Peach 

Royal 

Routier's Peach 

Spark's Mammoth 

St. Ambroise 

Tilton 

Wiggin's vSeedling 



Centra 

coast 

valleys 



'm'^"°''h Southern 
■foot'hms California 



the lists of the orchard planters. Many local 
seedlings have been brought to notice and 
propagated to some extent but are less used 
now than twelve years ago, and the disposi- 
tion is to restrict planting to a few old vari- 
eties. There is, however, still a need of new 
varieties combining size, quality and regular 
bearing. As with most other fruits, some 
varieties are found to succeed wherever con- 
ditions favor the fruit at all ; other varieties 
succeed in some regions and not in others. 
Our table of varieties for the diiTerent coun- 
ties shows this fact, and an attempt will be 
made to make the showing more explicit by 
notes in connection with the mention of each 
variety. 

In the following statement the arrangement 
is approximately in the order of ripening, 
and the descriptions are from Downing, with 
additions and changes to meet local observa- 
tion : 



VARIETIES OF FOREIGN ORIGIN. 

Large Early. — A French variety; fruit of medium 
size, rather oblong and compressed ; suture deep, 
skin slightly downy; pale orange in the shade, fine 
bright orange with a few ruddy spots in the sun ; 
flesh separating readily from the stone, orange color- 
ed, rich and juicy; kernel bitter. This variety is 
especially popular in the southern coast counties, but 
in most situations has proved an uncertain bearer. 
Ripens before Royal. 

Wiggins' Seedling. — Favored in Winter's district 
as best of early apricots; good size, fine color, solid 
red cheek, good bearer ; ten days earlier than Royal. 

Early Golden. — Origin unknown ; small, roundish 
oval, with suture well marked and extending half way 
around ; skin smooth, pale orange ; flesh yellow, mod- 
erately juicy and sweet, with very good flavor; sepa- 
rates from the stone. This variety is reported fav- 
orably from some counties, but generally otherwise, 
and is not largely grown. Ripens before Royal. 

Royal. — A French variety, and at the present time 
the leading California apricot. Of large size (when 
well thinned out), free stone, fine color and flavor, 
good bearer, and fruit ripens evenly, when well 




The Royal apricot. 

grown; a favorite with the canners and an excellent 
variety for drying. Fruit roundish, large, oval, slight- 
ly compressed ; skin dull yellow with orange cheek, 
very faintly tinged with red, and a shallow suture ; 
flesh pale orange, firm and juicy, with a rich vinous 
flavor. 

There is a variety somewhat grown in Sacramento 
and Solano Counties, sometimes called "White Roy- 
al," which is not liked by canners, because of its 
lack of color and flavor. 

Large Early Montgamet. — Large, orange yellow, 
reddish on sunny side, firm. 

Oullin's Early. — Early form of Peach apricot, large 
size, delicious flavor. Ripens in Amador County 
four weeks earlier than Peach. 

Luizet} — Large, oval, distinct suture, one side 
higher than the other; orange with crimson cheek; 



How to Grow Them 



177 



California Varieties 



flesh deep yellow, firm. rich. Especially approved in 
the upper San Joaquin. 

Bh-nhcim or Shipley. — This is a valuable variety 
in this State and seems to surpass Downing's descrip- 
tion both in vigor of tree and size of fruit. John 
Rock modifies Downing's description to suit Cali- 
fornia experience with this variety, as follows ; ''A 
very good variety, above medium, oval ; orange, with 
a deep yellow, juicy, and tolerably rich flesh; vigor- 
ous grower and regular, prolific bearer." This agrees 
perfectly with the behavior of the variety in the Uni- 
versity orchard at Berkeley, where it is the best of 
twenty varieties. It is not reported so constant a 
bearer in some other parts of the State. Fruit runs 
a little larger than the Royal, and is usually better 
distributed on the tree, but it must be well thinned. 
This v&riety has been approved by canners. Ripens 
a little later than the Royal. 




The Bergetti apricot. 



Early Moorfark. — Very popular in southern Cali- 
fornia, where its identity has been long in dispute, 
and is not yet fully determined. The Early Moor- 
park of Thomas Hogg is as follows : Roundish, in- 
clining to oval, with very deep suture on one side, 
extending from base to apex. Skin yellow, mottled, 
and dotted with crimson on the exposed side. Flesh 
in all respects resembling Moorpark. Stone oblong, 
with a covered channel along the back, which is per- 
vious. Kernel bitter. Ripens three weeks earlier 
than Moorpark, 

St. Ambroisc. — Large, early, compressed, deep yel- 
low, reddish on sunny side. Juicy, rich, and sugary, 
with firm flesh when grown in the interior ; apt to 
be coarse and to lack flavor near the coast. Con- 
demned by canners for not processing well, and by 
dryers for loss of weight and for white color around 
the pit. It has served well as a shipping variety. 

Bergetti. — An undetermined variety introduced by 



Mr. Bergetti and widely distributed under his name 
in the San Joaquin. 

Heinskirkc. — A fine English variety quite widely 
grown in California; ripens later than Royal, de- 
scribed by Downing as follows : "Fruit large, roun- 
dish, but considerably compressed or flattened on its 
sides ; skin orange, with red cheek ; flesh bright or- 
ange, tender, rather more juicy and sprightly than 
the Moorpark, with rich, luscious, plum-like flavor ; 
stone not perforate, rather small, and kernel bitter." 
Esteemed in California because the tree is more hardy 
and a more regular bearer than the Moorpark, and 
the fruit ripens evenly on both sides. Sometimes 
drops worse than other varieties. 

Peach. — A variety from Piedmont of the largest 
size, about two inches in diameter, roundish, rather 
flattened, and somewhat compressed on its sides, with 
a well-marked suture; skin yellow in the shade, but 
deep orange mottled with brown on the sunny side; 
flesh of a fine yellow, saffron color, juicy, rich, and 
high flavored ; stone can be penetrated like Moor- 
park and has bitter kernel. This is a very successful 
sort in the warmer parts of the State especially, and 
is a favorite in the Sacramento Valley. It ripens 
just ahead of the Moorpark. 

Moorpark. — A standard of excellence and an old 
variety which originated in England. Fruit large, 
roundish, about two inches and a quarter in diameter 
each way ; rather larger on one side of the suture 
than on the other ; skin orange in the shade, but deep 
orange or brownish red in the sun, marked with 
numerous dark specks and dots; flesh quite firm, 
bright orange, parting free from the stone, quite 
juicy, with a rich and luscious flavor; stone peculi- 
arly perforated along the back, where a pin may be 
pushed through ; kernel bitter. In California the 
Moorpark reaches grand size, but has the fault of 
ripening unevenly in most localities. The tree is 
tender and bears irregularly, which leads to its re- 
jection by most planters, though some growers cling 
to it because of its size and quality and occasional 
grand crops. The San Jose districts lead in the pro- 
duction of this variety, and in some parts of the 
Santa Clara Valley the Moorpark seems to ripen 
uniformly. The same behavior is reported from lo- 
calities in the upper San Joaquin Valley, where it 
also seems to be a more regular bearer. The va- 
riety is almost wholly rejected in Southern Cali- 
fornia. 

VARIETIES OF CALIFORNIA ORIGIN. 
Newcastle. — Originated with C. M. Silva & Son, of 
Newcastle, Placer County, in 1881 ; size medium, 
round, with spherical pit ; freestone ; not quite as 
large as the Royal, nor quite as rich in flavor, but 
more highly colored ; rather darker on the side to 
the sun. Early, regular and good bearer, a medium 
grower, being more upright than the Royal. Its time 
of ripening has been reported as seventeen days 
earlier than the Early Golden and twenty-five days 
earlier than the Royal. 

Routicr's Peach. — Originated with Hon. Joseph 
Routier. near Sacramento. Large, yellow in shade; 
deep orange, mottled or splashed with red in the sun ; 
flesh juicy and rich, high flavor and a good market 
. variety. Blooms a week later than peach. Very pop- 
ular in Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. 



California Origin 



178 



California Fruits 



S/^arks' Mammoth. — Popular in Ventura County. 
Largest size, even larger than iMoorpark. pale yellow, 
very tender, juicy and sweet. Quite widely distrib- 
uted in southern California, but its bearing habit 
is in question. 

Tilton. — Chance seedling first noticed about i883 
on place of J. E. Tilton, near Hanford, Kings County, 
and distinguished by regular bearing. Propagated 
and introduced by J. W. Bairstow of Hanford. 
Fruit large ; freestone ; symmetrical, ripening evenly 
and one week to ten days later than Royal. Tree 



vigorous and prolilic. Widely planted recently and 
very promising. 

Late Englchardt. — Chance seedling originating at 
La Crescenta. Propagated and introduced by W. B. 
Thome of Tropico. Large as Moorpark, ripening 
evenly and twenty-eight days later than Royal. 
Claimed by Mr. Thorne to be a very late bloomer 
and thus escaping frosts which caught all other va- 
rieties at similar elevations. Planted chiefly in Los 
.A.ngeles County. 




How to Grow Them 



179 



Localities for the Cherry 



CHAPTER XIX. 



REQUIREMENTS OF THE CHERRY. 



ALTHOUGH the amount of cherries 
grown in this State is small as com- 
pared with the aggregate weights of some 
other fruits, the cherry, from the growth of 
the tree and the size and quality of the 
product, is entitled to rank as one of the 
grand fruits of California. The size of the 
California-grown cherry is a matter of pride 
with residents, and a marvel to visitors. It 
is related that, many years ago, one of the 
most distinguished Eastern pomologists, who 
was taken to an Alameda County cherry or- 
chard during picking-time, could not recognize 
the varieties, though he had himself propa- 
gated and shipped to California the very 
trees which were bearing the fruit, the size 
of which so far surpassed all his mental 
standards. And quality is commensurate 
with size. Whatever disagreement there 
may be concerning the flavors of our other 
fruits as compared with Eastern, the richness 
and excellence of the California -cherry have 
never been impeached. Recently the ship- 
ment of cherries to eastern markets, the ex- 
tension of the canning interest, and the up- 
rising of a demand for maraschino-preserv- 
ing have considerably enlarged the oppor- 
tunity for profitable growth of the fruit. 

Famous Old Trees. — The longevity and 
productiveness of the cherry tree in this 
State is naturally of interest. Cherries were 
planted in some of the earliest settled parts 
of the State and are still in full vigor. One 
of the famous trees is a Black Tartarian, 
which was brought from France by Dr. L. 
E. Miller, and planted by him in 1854, on 
land afterwards owned by Robert Hector, in 
Placer County, just below Rattlesnake Bar, 
on the American River, about eight hundred 
feet above sea-level. It is described as above 
seventy feet in height, the branches covering 
a space between seventy and seventy-five 
feet in diameter. The trunk branches about 
si.x feet above the ground, and at that point 



has a girth of over ten feet. A close record 
of its crop, kept for a number of years 
when the tree was over thirty years of age, 
showed that it yielded from a ton to a ton 
and a half a year. Such trees are too large 
to be profitable, for the fruit has to be picked 
with the aid of extension ladders securely 
guyed, by men slung in swings from such 
ladders or the forks of the trees. At last 
reports there were about fifty of these large 
trees. Other large trees were to be seen near 
Woodside, San Mateo County, and near 
Oroville and Chico in Butte County, some of 
which have borne a ton of fruit in favorable 



LOCALITIES FOR THE CHERRY. 

In California there are many districts in 
which the cherry does not do well, and situ- 
ations for the fruit must therefore be selected 
with discrimination. The chief product is 
made in the coast valleys adjacent to the Bay 
of San Francisco, including its extension 
east of the Coast range, known as Suisun 
bay, for in all these regions there is a modi- 
fication of climate due to the influence of 
ocean temperature and moisture. Away from 
these influences the cherry also thrives on the 
alluvial bottoms of large rivers and their 
ti-ibutary creeks, both on the low lands of 
the valleys and the foothills, while on the 
broad valley plains and foothill slopes it is 
not usually satisfactory. In the mountain 
valleys cherries also thrive on suitable soils. 
In southern California at elevations where 
moisture is adequate and temperatures favor 
suitable winter dormancy of the trees, good 
cherries are profitably grown, while on the 
mesas and valleys below, where citrus fruits 
flourish, the cherry is an aggravation. 

How far atmospheric conditions which are 
bevond control influence the growth and 
fruitage of the cherry, can not yet be fully 
determined, but ample trial seems to demon- 



Soils for the Cherry 



ISO 



California Fruits 



strate the unsatisfactory character of the 
tree, manifested in small fruit and sun- 
burned foliage, on the plains of interior val- 
leys, although the soil is kept moist enough 
There is, however, still the chance of secur- 
ing varieties of the fruit which have been 
developed under conditions similar to those 
prevailing in the interior of California. The 
Russian cherries, which are largely grown in 
a region subject to high summer heat and 
dry air, will succeed in parts of California 
where the varieties originating in west Eu- 
rope fail. Though this was suggested long 
ago, the effort has not yet been made. 

SOILS FOR THE CHERRY. 

The cherry thrives in free, deep soil, in 
which water does not stand within about 15 feef 
from the surface. It delights in deep de- 
posits from old water courses, and does not 
dislike a moderate amount of sand. A loam 
underlaid by a sandy subsoil is acceptable, 
but a loam underlaid by clay has shown its 
unfitness by the early failure of the trees, 
while those on deep loam near by have re- 
mained vigorous and profitable. On the foot- 
hills it thrives in the light, mellow soil and 
fails in the tight clay either in soil or subsoil, 
as it does in the adobe of lower lands ; and 
yet a clay loam of no great depth upon a 
clay subsoil may grow good trees if the clay 
be so disposed that surplus water from win- 
ter rains can escape and water is at hand to 
guard against summer drouth. But this is 
merely a suggestion for garden growth of 
the cherry. Commercial orchards should 
have a good depth of sufficiently retentive 
soil. The great cherry trees which we have 
mentioned, are growing right on the bank of 
the American River, where the soil is a pure, 
sandy loam, in some places over sixty feet 
deep,' as proved by an old shaft once dug 
near the center of the orchard. 

But though the cherry dislikes a wet soil. 
it is particular about its water supply and 
insists upon enough, its requirements being 
greater than some other trees. During the 
dry years 1898 and 1899, trees came into 
distress where they had never suffered be- 
fore, and many large, valuable trees died. 
The only new condition they encountered was 
lack of soil moisture. It thus appears that 
while the cherry is undoubtedly injured by 
excess of water in the soil, it is still' very 



exacting in its requirement of an adequate 
supply. If this can not be retained in the 
soil by cultivation, irrigation must be re- 
sorted to. Thus the cherry growers in the 
famous Willows district, of San Jose, usually 
find it an advantage to give their trees an 
irrigation between the spring rains and the 
ripening of the fruit, and another irrigation 
after the fruit is gathered. 

Irregularity in the moisture supply also 
causes the cherry to bloom and fruit unsea- 
sonably. There has been bloom in October 
and ripe fruit in January, due to the fact that 
trees become dormant in late summer from 
soil-drouth. January cherries may be evi- 
dences of salubrity but they betoken poor 
horticulture. 

These facts show that the cherry must 
have enough water or it will not succeed. 
Sometimes young trees which have made a 
good summer growth die outright on leachy 
soils which dry out before the fall rains begin. 
On the other hand, there must not be exces- 
sive moisture in the soil either from irriga- 
tion or by moisture. Cherry trees in south- 
ern California, planted with orange trees and 
given similar irrigation, have failed utterly. 
Planting on naturally moist land in low 
places has also failed, and observed facts 
some time ago led to the conclusion that at 
the south the cherry should be planted on 
well-drained land, which could be irrigated 
(as the behavior of the tree indicated its 
need of water), rather than on naturally 
moist land, because of the likelihood 
of excessive moisture in such situations. 
More recent experience has declared mellow, 
well-drained soils of the higher lands well 
adapted to the cherry, and on such soils, 
when well cultivated, cherries have done well 
without irrigation at Pasadena, Pomona and 
elsewhere. The commercial cherry product 
of southern California comes, however, from 
mountain valleys and high plateaux — the chief 
regions being the Yucaipe Valley above 
Redlands and the Mesa Grande region in the 
interior of San Diego County. 

In California, as elsewhere, the Dukes and 
Morellos may succeed where the Hearts and 
Bigarreaux fail. The May Duke seems es- 
pecially hardy, and bears well in Nevada, 
where other sorts fail utterly. 

Del.wed Fruiting or Cherry Trees. — 
Though the cherry in favorable situations 
bears early, the grower, especially on strong, 



How to Grow Them 



181 



Propagation of the Cherry 



rich lands, will often have many years of 
disappointment from falling blossoms and 
fruit. During this time the trees will be 
making marvelous wood growth, and this ap- 
parently suppresses the fruiting function. 
Usually these trees will ultimately bear when 
their exuberant growth declines. They can 
be thrown into fruit sooner by allowing the 
trees to go uncultivated or by root pruning, 
digging a trench around about eight feet 
from the tree, and severing the roots thus 
encountered, or by summer pruning of twig 
ends. Because of this overgrowth, growers 
give such soil to the apple or the pear rather 
than the cherry. Sometimes the non-bearing 
of the cherry is inexplicable. Though every- 
thing seems to be right, and the blooms are 
profuse, the fruit will not stick. 

Unquestionably lack of bearing is due with 
certain cherries to lack of association of differ- 
ent varieties and cross fertilization. There is 
warrant for the claim that keeping bees in 
the vicinity of cherry orchards has increased 
the bearing. But varieties must be provided 
which will act as cross-pollinizers. The 
Royal Ann needs this assistance and will 
bear better when associated with Black Tar- 
tarian, Black Bigarreau, Bing and probably 
others. In Oregon tlie Deacon and Lambert 
are said to be good pollinizers for Royal Ann. 

EXPOSURES FOR THE CHERRY. 

Exposures for the cherry are chosen both 
with reference to protection from frost in- 
jury and to early ripening of the fruit. The 
cherry blooms early ; though hardly as ven- 
turesome as the apricot and almond. In protec- 
ted situations, guarded from cold northerly 
winds, and open to sunshine on the south and 
southeast, the fruit advances to maturity very 
rapidly. In Vaca Valley about a month of 
good weather after the blossoming will ripen 
an early cherry, and ripe cherries have been 
shipped as early as March 31. The pioneer 
cherry growers of Vaca \'alley went there 
from their old homes in Napa Valley, be- 
cause they could gather and market cherries 
in their new locations before the same vari- 
eties were ripe in Napa. They chose places 
protected on the north and west by steep 
hills. The two things to secure are, appar- 
ently, protection from the sweep of cold 
winds nn 1 elevation above the deposit of cold 
air. which occurs in depressed places. 



In localities where fruit ripens late, as near 
the coast, there is no need to seek forcing 
conditions, for the extra early varieties 
should not be planted except for family use. 
Early varieties are comparatively poor in 
quality, and will not sell profitably, as they 
will reach the market alongside of better 
later sorts from earlier districts. The place 
for the cherry in the later districts is on the 
most proper soil, according to the require- 
ments which have been laid down, avoiding, 
however, so far as possible, wind-swept spots, 
and seeking amelioration of direct ocean in- 
fluences by elevation or intervention of hills 
and windbreaks. 

PROPAGATION AND PLANTING THE 
CHERRY. 

In the chapter on propagation is given a 
successful method of growing cherry seed- 
lings. California cherry trees are almost ex- 
clusively propagated by budding on seedlings 
of the Black Alazzard. The Mahaleb root 
is more hardy than the Mazzard and is less 
subject to injury by soil saturation during 
the winter season. It is also more hardy 
against injury by summer drouth on shallow- 
soils* which is one of the causes of die-back 
of the cherry tree in some parts of the State. 
While there may be particular places in 
which the Mahaleb is the better root, the 
conclusions of fifty years' experience in Cali- 
fornia cherry growing, which approve the 
^lazzard, are on the whole trustworthy. The 
Mazzard is a better grower and, where mois- 
ture conditions are fairly good, leaves little 
to be desired. The Mazzard, however, 
though credited with a dwarfing influence, 
does make a good sized tree under our con- 
ditions. Recently the Morello or sour cherry 
seedling, has found favor with some growers 
on the Sacramento River although it is in- 
hospitable to the buds of some varieties, like 
the Early Purple Greigne and Royal Ann, 
and double working has to be resorted to, 
which is expensive, both in outlay and time. 
The Black Tartarian takes well on the Mor- 
ello and other varieties can be budded upon 
the Tartarian top growth. 

The planting of the cherry is covered by 
the general considerations already given for 
the planting of orchards. The distance which 
cherries should be set apart is a disputed 
point among planters. When planted twenty 



Prunius the Cherry 



182 



California Fruits 



feet apart the trees have interlaced their 
branches when sixteen years old, and the 
spaces between the rows have been covered 
in like colonnades. In the Haywards re- 
gion the branches of twelve-year-old trees 
set' twenty-eight feet apart have nearly 
reached each other, though continually cut 
back. Much depends in the matter of dis- 
tance upon the manner of handling the trees. 
The trees can be grown much nearer together 
by continuous pruning than where the usual 
way of cutting back for the first few years 
and letting the tree take its natural growth 
after that, is followed. James E. Gedney, of 
Mesa Grande, San Diego County, practises 
close planting and cutting back which may 
work better on his upland than on deeper, 
moister soils. He says : 

I plant my trees twenty feet apart each way. My 
method is to plant thus closely and then keep my 
trees low, by cutting back every \-ear ; this facilitates 
gathering the fruit very much. I prefer this way to 
setting the trees farther apart and allowing them to 
attain too great a height. By the former method I 
secure fully as good, if not better, results per acre, 
to say nothing of the difference in gathering the 
fntit. Another advantage in keeping the trees headed 
low is that the wind does not affect them nearly as 
much as it does tall trees. 

The best distances are 24 or 28 feet on 
such deep soils as have been described as 
best befitting the tree and though one may 
fix his distance in planting according to the 
method of pruning he proposes to follow, 
he should remember that the cherry is natur- 
ally a large tree, and most old orchards are 
now overcrowded. 

As with other trees, orchard planters prefer 
trees with one year's growth on the bud in 
the nursery, because they usually get, then, a 
straight switch with well-developed buds all 
the way down, and the head can be formed 
as desired. For garden planting, older trees, 
properly pruned in the nursery, can he used 
to advantage. 



PRUNING THE CHERRY. 

All our best growers agree in the advan- 
tage of a low head for the cherry, and all 
aim to have the trunks of yoimg trees from 
the ground up to the limbs literally covered 
all around with leaves, which completely 
shelter the bark from the rays of the sun. 
In planting, therefore, the side buds are 
carefully preserved — not to be grown into 



branches, but to be cut or pinched back when 
they have come out a few inches, leaving 
just growth enough to clothe the tree with 
a covering of its own foliage. These spurs 
not only furnish leaves to shade the trunk, 
but soon become fruit spurs and bear well. 

Low He.ading with a Central Stem. — 
Some of the trees in the older orchards have 
been shaped by carrying up a leader with a 
regular system of side branches. Head back 
at planting to two feet, pinching off the 
shoots below the head as stated, and allow- 
ing the shoots which form the head to grow 
larger, but they too are all pinched except 
the leader, which is allowed to grow as long 
as it pleases during the summer. During fall 
or winter pruning cut back the leader to 
about twelve or sixteen inches from its start- 
ing point and cut back the side branches 
to about six or eight inches. This is done 
year after year, cutting back and thinning 
out the side shoots, pinching the laterals, and 
allowing the leader to grow, never inter- 
fering with it until the winter pruning, and 
always letting it predon]inate over the side 
shoots. By cutting short, wood is increased, 
but at the end of six years the tree goes 
intu iruit very rapidly. As the tree increases 
in fruit it decreases in wood, and by the time 
it is ten or twelve years old there will be but 
little cutting to do, except to shorten in and 
thin out, and this requires some judgment 
and experience, to know where to cut, how 
to cut, and when to cut. To shorten in, 
never cut down to an old fruit spur. It is 
very difficult to get healthy wood out of 
such ; but whenever you can find last year's 
wood, there you can cut with safety any- 
thing that is less than one inch in diameter. 

This system of pruning must be accompan- 
ied bv constant pinching during the sumiuer- 
time. It should commence when the lower 
shoots are about six inches long, and be fol- 
lowed up closely all through the growing 
season. Those on the trunk should never 
get longer than eight or ten inches, under 
any circumstances- After these are pinched, 
let the trees rest ten or fifteen days, or until 
the branches in the top get a good start. 
Then pinch everything clean btit the leader, 
in every main branch in the tree. The leader 
takes its own way all through the growing 
season, to prevent the effects of over-pinch- 
ing or checking growth. If only the side 
shoots are kept back, the leader or head of 



How to Grow Them 



183 



Grafting the Cherr}^ 



the branches receives the current or flow 
of sap and maintains and carries on Hfe and 
vitality in the tree. One object in pinching 
or spur pruning is to keep back surplus wood 
and create fruit spurs, throwing all the 
little twigs and branches into fruit, thereby 
utilizing all the wood the tree can produce, 
not allowing it to grow at the tree's ex- 
pense, and then have to cut it off. And 
another object in side-shoot pruning is to 
make the tree produce fine large cherries, al! 
closely nestled around the big wood, and no 
long, slim branches hanging down like weep- 
ing willow. All such branches are always 
more or less sunburnt on the top and full 
of worms, one of the evils tending to the 
destruction of the tree. 

This method is commended to those who 
like a tree with a central leader, and are 
willing to give their orchards such constant 
attention. Unless pinching and consequent 
multiplication of shoots and foliage is faith- 
fully followed such a tree is apt to become 
tall and rangy and to expose its bark all the 
way up to sunburn and borers. 

THE USUAL METHOD OF PRUNING 
THE CHERRY. 

As we have said, all cherry growers agree 
on low heading and on the advantage of 
pinching the lowest shoots as soon as they 
make a bunch of leaves. In forming the 
head, and in after treatment, the usual 
method is quite different from that we have 
described. It follows the vase or goblet 
form, which has been discussed at length 
in the chapter on pruning. Of the applica- 
tion of this method to the cherry, \V. \\'. 
Smith, in an address before the State Horti- 
cultural Society, said : 

The cherry ma}- be pruned the same as any other 
deciduous fruit tree until it is about five years old ; 
after that the less pruning the better, except when 
necessary to cut out a dead or crossing branch. 
Pruning the cherry is more or less likely to produce 
gum (and this, decay), and should be avoided as 
much as possible. Cherry trees, however, should be 
trained with low heads not to exceed eighteen inches 
from the ground to the first branches ; fifteen inches 
is better. From three to five branches are enough 
to form the head of the tree : all others should be 
removed early. Three are better than five; two 
makes a forked tree, which is likely to split down in 
after years. 

. .^t the end of the first season we have a neat lit- 
tle tree with three to five branches. During the fol- 
lowing winter these branches should be cut back to 



six to eight inches. The next season these should 
be allowed to produce two branches each (no more) ; 
then, at the end of the second season from planting 
out, we have a tree with from six to ten branches. The 
following winter the new growth should be cut back 
again to from twelve to eighteen inches — according 
to the amount of growth the tree makes — the less 
the growth the more you cut. The same process 
should be repeated the following winter, treating 
each branch as an individual tree, until the tree is 
about five years old ; it takes at least five years to 
get the head of a cherry well established. After this, 
as some varieties will persist in throwing out 
branches near the ground, they should be removed 
during the summer. At this age the tree, if well 
grown, will have top enough to shade its body from 
the sun, and there is no further need of branches on 
the main trunk. 

If necessary to remove large branches it should 
then be done in midsummer, as that is the only sea- 
son when the gum is not more or less exuded. We 
make it a rule to go over and dress up and prune 
our cherry orchard immediately after the crop is 
gathered — which in our part of the State is the last 
of Ma}-. All wounds made then by the removal of 
branches or otherwise will heal over the same sea- 
son. All large wounds made at any time, however, 
should be coated over with paint. 

The method thus described by Mr. Smith 
is that by which probably nine-tenths of the 
cherry trees of this State are shaped. 

In the cherr>' there should be the same ob- 
servation as to cutting inside and outside 
buds as with other trees ; in fact, the outside 
bud is the rule, because so many varieties 
make a directly upward growth. In remov- 
ing limbs, cutting to the collar or swelling 
at the base of the limb is especially impor- 
tant, also the covering of the wound to pre- 
want checking of the wood. 

GRAFTING 0\'ER THE CHERRY. 

Since canning of cherries began on a large 
scale, there has been a vastly increased 
demand for white cherries. The Royal .\nn 
(a local name for Napoleon Bigarreau) has 
been the favorite. Other white sorts are 
also used for canning. This rise in favor of 
the white cherries has vastly increased their 
proportionate production as compared with 
the choice black and red varieties, which are 
still popular as table fruit. 

It is the experience of growers that the 
cherry is grafted over as easily as the pear 
or apple, if the tree is healthy. In large 
trees as many as fifty or one hundred grafts 
may be set, choosing the sinaller limbs, even 
if you have to go pretty high in the tree. 
T. W. Cassidv. of Petaluma. used to advise 



Pests and Diseases 



184 



California Fruits : 



grafting before the sap begins to flow in the 
winter, or if niot done then, wait until the 
btids are well advanced or the tree in bloom. 
He has trees which were over thirty years 
old before they were re-headed, and they 
made fine tops of new and healthy wood, 
and produce abundantly. The cherry is in 
fact a very easy tree to graft by the usual 
top-grafting methods. 

PESTS AND DISEASES OF THE 
CHERRY. 

The disease of the cherry which is most 
heard of is the "gum," or overflow and con- 
densation of sap, which, if left to itself, often 
induces decay of adjacent bark and wood. 
Without attempting to explain the cause or 
causes of the unhealthy exudation, it may be 
said that prompt treatment of certain mani- 
festations is desirable, and in others the tree 
should be cleansed from the flow. Where 
the gum exudes on the side of trunk or limb, 
the thin outer bark should be pared away 
with a sharp knife, the accumulation of gum 
and sap removed, and the wound painted 
with lead and oil paint, or covered with 
grafting wax. 

Gum in the crotch should he cleanly 
brushed out when softened by the winter 
rains. If allowed to remain, it becomes 
sour and offensive and may injure the tree. 
In places where two or three limbs come out 
close together a kind of cup is formed, which 
will hold the gum from one year's end to 
another, and, in its soft state, leaves, sticks, 
cherry pits, dust, and dirt will stick and 
hang and sometimes the mass becomes very 
foul. By this collection also, a nest is made 
for all manner of insects, bugs and worms. 
Another evil in letting the gum stay on is, 
if rain does not wash it off clean, it runs 
down the trunk of the tree and makes the 
bark look bad, and if it is very thick on the 
bark when it dries, it will contract and crack 
the bark crosswise, and is very injurious to 
the tree. 

Gumming in the crotch can be largely 
avoided by starting the young cherry as ad- 
vocated in the chapter on pruning. Branches 
which emerge from the trunk at separate 
points and at wide angles seldom gum ; those 
which are crowded together or emerge at 
acute angles gum badly. In shaping young 
trees a gumming joint sometimes may be 



clearly cut out and those branches selected 
to remain which start out at a wider angle ; 
in older trees there is nothing to do biit 
keep the fork clean, as already described. 

There are cases reported in which gum- 
ming of old trees has been stopped by allow- 
ing the ground to lie uncultivated, weeds 
being cut down with the hoe. As a rule, 
however, the cherry thrives with good culti- 
vation. 

Die-BACK OF THE CiiERRY. — The dying 
back of cherry branches is more or less 
common in all regions, and the immediate 
cause thereof is not known. It is apparently 
sometimes a root trouble, as is the dying 
back of other fruit trees. This might have 
resulted from standing water in the winter 
in the soil, although the same condition may 
result from lack of sufficient moisture. Any- 
thing which causes destruction of the root 
hairs is apt to cause die-back and other forms 
of unthrift in the top. Early vegetative ac- 
tivity in the branch, followed by frost, seems 
also to occasion die-back in some cases. 
Fortunately, this can occur without injury 
to the rest of the tree, though it is some- 
times and in some places destructive to the 
tree in the end. The only treatment is re- 
moval of the affected wood, and if this can 
be done during the growing season, as soon 
as signs of injury appear, it is all the better. 

The Gopher. — One of the most dangerous 
foes of the cherry is the gopher, for he 
seldom takes less than the whole tree, young 
or old. Traces of his presence should be 
constantly watched for, and killing methods 
described in a later chapter adopted. If 
a tree is seen to wilt suddenly, the proba- 
bility is that a gopher has girdled it. Cover- 
ing the wound sometimes saves the tree, but 
not usually. 

Insects injuring the cherry will be men- 
tioned in a subsequent chapter. 

VARIETIES OF THE CHERRY. 

Many varieties of the cherry have been 
tested in this State, and many have been 
abandoned from one cause or another. Those 
most frequently starred in our table are 
the survivors in public esteem. As our re- 
ports have come from those who grow for 
market, possibly some sorts too tender for 
shipment, but excellent for family use, are 



How to Grow Them 



185 



Varieties approved 



omitted, but will be included in the de- 
scriptions which follow the table. The claims 
to value upon which a variety is judged are 
several : Extra earliness, an important con- 
sideration in early districts for shipment, 
and elsewhere for local sale or family use ; 
firmness to withstand mechanical injury by 



also wanting a natural division, really con- 
stitute but one class. 

In addition to the old standard varieties, 
a number of Pacific Coast seedlings have 
become popular, and others are very prom- 
ising. Special description of these seedlings 
will follow the standard sorts. 



Cherry varieties approved by California growers. 



VARIETY. 

Advance 

Bing 

Black Heart (Black Bigarreau) . 

Burr' s Seedling 

Centennial 

Chapman 

Cleveland 

Early Purple Guigne 

Elton 

Knight (Early) 

Lambert . . 

Lewelling ( Black Republican ) 

Mezel 

Napoleon ( Royal Ann ) 

Nonpariel 

Rockport 

Schmidt 

Spanish (Yellow) 

Tartarian ( Black ) 

Paul 

Wood (Governor) 

Buttner's Yellow 

Eugenie 

May Duke 

Morello 

Olivet 

Richmond 



Upper 

coast 

region. 



Central 
coast 
region. 



Interior Mountain 

valley and valleys and 
foot-hills. plateaux. 



ved in the region designated. 



jarring in transit and durability to escape 
decay during the long journey to distant 
markets ; firmness and fixed color to stand 
processing in the cannery, and to prevent 
coloring the juice; lateness to extend the 
cherry season. 

In classification of cherries it was origi- 
nally considered that there were four classes 
of cherries. The Hearts were the tender and 
half-tender sweet cherries, while the Bigar- 
reaux were the firm-fleshed ones ; but these 
have been so intermingled and blended to- 
gether by hybridization that no distinct line 
can now be drawn separating them. There 
is really but one class of these, whose main 
characteristic is the large, vigorous growth 
of the tree. The Duke and Morello cherries. 



BIGARREAU .'VND HEARTS. 

Early Lamauric. — Fruit large, dark purple ; flesh 
rich, juic}', excellent. Downing says a week earlier 
than Early Purple Guigne. Has proved the earliest 
cherry in the University collection at Berkeley, and 
in Vacaville district. Not fully tested as to regular 
bearing. 

Guigne Marbree. — "Fruit medium large, round, 
skin dark red; flesh purplish red, tender, juicy, deli- 
cate flavor."— GJ/Zf*. "A better bearer than Early 
Purple Guigne."— J'K. W. Smith. 

Baumann's May (Early Black Guigne). — Rather 
small, deep rich red. becoming rather dark when fully 
ripe; tender, juicy, tolerably sweet and good. 

Early Purple Guigne. — Small to medium size ; pur- 
ple ; tender, juicy, and sweet. This variety is con- 
sidered the earliest good cherry. It is reported a 
shy bearer in some localities. 

Belle d'Orleans. — -.Above medium size, roundish, 
heart-shaped ; whitish yellow, half covered with pale 
red, very juicy, sweet and excellent. 



\'arieties of the Clierrv 



186 



California Fruits 



Early IVhite Heart. — Below medium size, rather 
heart-shaped, skin dull whitish yellow, tinged and 
speckled with pale red in the sun ; flesh melting, 
sweet, and pleasant when fully ripe. 

IVhite Tartarian. — Fruit of medium size, obtuse 
heart-shaped; skin pale yellow; stalk slender; flesh 
whitish yellow; half tender and very sweet. 

American Heart. — Fruit pretty large, heart-shaped, 
often nearly four-sided and irregular in outline; 
borne in clusters ; flesh half tender ; skin strong and 
adhering to flesh. 

Werder's Early Black. — .\n early variety, moder- 
ately productive; tree vigorous, spreading; fruit 
large, black, tender, sweet and excellent. 

Knight's Early Black. — "Large, black, tender, juicy, 
rich, and excellent; high flavor; a shy bearer until 
■ the trees attain age." 

Rockport Biggareau. — Large ; pale amber in the 
shade, light red in the sun ; half tender, sweet and 
good; a very excellent and handsome cherry; good 
bearer; highly esteemed for canning and shipping. 

Coe's Transparent. — Medium size ; pale amber, red 
and mottled next the sun ; tender, sweet and fine. 

Cleveland Bigarreau. — A thrifty, strong, spreading 
grower, and productive ; large ; clear red and yellow ; 
juicy, sweet, and rich. 

Black Tartarian. — Fruit of the largest size, bright 
purplish black. Flesh purplish, thick, juicy, very rich 
and delicious. Tree a remarkably vigorous, erect, 
and beautiful grower, and an immense bearer; the 
best of the black cherries. 

Governor Wood. — Large ; light yellow shaded with 
bright red ; flesh nearly tender, juicy, sweet, rich and 
delicious ; a vigorous grower and very productive. 

Elton. — Large, pointed ; pale yellow, nearly covered 
with light red; juicy, with a very rich and luscious 
flavor ; one of the best. 

Black Eagle. — A ver\- excellent English variety, 
ripening in June ; large size, deep purple, or nearly 
black; flesh deep purple, tender, with a rich, high- 
flavored juice. 

American Amber. — Fruit medium sized, roundish, 
heart-shaped ; skin thin, smooth, light amber, deli- 
cately mottled and overspread with bright red ; flesh 
tender and juicy, but not high flavored 

Yellow Spanish (Bigarreau Graffion). — Large; pale 
yellow, with red cheek in the sun ; flesh firm, juicy, 
and delicious; one of the best, most beautiful, and 
popular of all light-colored cherries. 

Me:el. Monstrcucse de (Great Bigarreau"). — .\ for- 
eign variety of the largest size; dark red or quite 
black; firm and juicy; late. 

Pontiac. — Large; dark purplish red; half tender, 
juicy, and agreeable. 

Burr's Seedling. — Large ; yellow, shaded with red ; 
sweet and rich ; vigorous and great bearer ; appar- 
ently does better near the coast than in the interior. 

Oxheart. — Fruit large, obtuse, heart-shaped ; skin 
dark red ; flesh red, half tender, with a pleasant 
juice of second quality. 



Xapoleon Bigarreau (Royal Ann). — A magnificent 
cherry of the largest size ; pale yellow, becoming 
amber in shade, richly dotted and spotted with deep 
red, and with a bright red cheek; flesh very firm, 
juicy and sweet. Tree a free grower and an enor- 
mous bearer. 

Tradescanf's Blackheart (Elkhorn, Black Bigar- 
reau.) — Large, heart-shaped; deep, glossy black; 
very solid and firm; dark purple, moderately juicy. 

Schmidt's Bigarreau. — "A new German variety 
lately introduced. The largest of all the Black Bi- 
garreau cherries. Skin of a deep black color; flesh 
dark and verv juicy, with a fine flavor." — John Bid- 

'(V//. 

DUKES AND MORELLOS. 
Early Richmond (Kentish). — An early, red, acid 
cherry; valuable for cooking early in the season. 

Eugenie. — Medium large ; heart-shaped ; amber 
red; good quality; early. 

• May Duke. — An old, well-known, excellent variety; 
large, dark red, juicy, sub-acid, rich. 

Arch Duke. — Fruit large, obtuse, heart-shaped; 
bright red becoming dark ; flesh light red, melting, 
juicy, rich, sub-acid flavor, very good; tree more 
upright and vigorous than ^Lay Duke. 

Late Duke. — Fruit large, flattened or obtuse, heart- 
shaped ; white, mottled with red, becoming rich dark 
red when ripe; flesh yellowish, tender, juicy; hangs 
long on the tree. 

Reine Hortense. — "It is one of the very largest of 
cherries; a beautiful, glossy red, or deep pink, when 
fully ripe : heart-shaped ; a universal bearer, and 
wheit hanging on the tree no fruit is more beautiful ; 
excellent for canning, but too soft and juicy for 
shipment." — IV. W. Smith. 

English Morcllo. — Large, dark red, nearly black; 
tender, juicy, rich, acid, productive and late. 

Guignc Noir Luisante (Black Spanish). — Fruit 
medium size, round, heart-shaped, glossy, blackish 
red; flesh reddish purple, tender, juicy, rich acid. 

Belle Magnifique. — Fruit large, roundish, inclined 
to heart-shape; skin a fine bright red; flesh juicy, 
tender, with sprightly sub-acid flavor ; one of the 
best of its class ; a fine table fruit when fully ripe. 

Buttner's y'etloK.: — Medium, roundish; clear yel- 
low ; firm ; late. 

PACIFIC COAST SEEDLINGS. 

Lczt'clling — Black Republican (Black Oregon). — 
"Seedling by S'eth Lewelling. Milwaukee, Oregon, 
from seed planted in i860; first fruited in orchard in 
186^. Widely distributed in California. Large, 
black, sweet, with purple flesh ; ripens ten days after 
Black Tartarian." — James Shiiin. "Large, late black 
cherry, good flavor, long keeper ; dries and ships 
well. Seems to succeed better on foot-hills than in 
the valley." — Robert Williamson. "Supposed to be a 
cross between Napoleon Bigarreau and Black Tar- 
tarian, having the solid flesh of the former and the 
color of the latter; very late." — John Rock. "I am 
of the opinion that the Black Republican and Lincoln 



How to Grow Them 



187 



Cherries in Oregon 



came from the seed of the Black Eagle, but I have 
little idea of what variety they were crossed witli." — 
Seth Lewelling. 

Bing. — Originated by Seth Lewelling. from seed of 
Black Republican. "Fruit large, dark brown or black, 
very fine; late; a good shipping variety." — Seth Le- 
ti'clliiig. Tree vigorous, and foliage heavy. Fruit 
ripens so that trees can be cleaned at one picking. 

Centennial. — A seedling of Napoleon Bigarreau. 
raised by Mr. Henry Chapman, in Napa Valley, and 
fruited by him for the first time in 1876. Propa- 
gated and introduced by Leonard Coates. then of 
Napa, in 1885. It is larger than its parent, more 
oblate in form, and beautifully marbled and splashed 
with crimson on a pale yellow ground; exceptionally 
sweet and of remarkable keeping quality. Described 
by Committee of American Pomological Society 
(1885) as follows: "Size large, slightly oblate; am- 
ber, with dark crimson marbling; flesh firm, sweet, 
and rich; quality best; condition excellent (after 
crossing continent by mail), showing its good ship- 
ping qualities." The Centennial has been little plant- 
ed recently, because of superiority of Royal Ann. 

California Advance. — Originated by W. H. Chap- 
man, of Napa, propagated by Leonard Coates. then 
of Napa. Seedling of Early Purple Guigne. ripens 
one week earlier than its parent ; is larger and more 
obtuse, rounded form, and said to be a heavier bear- 
er ; dark purple turning black ; rich and sweet, and of 
good degree of firmness. 

The Oregon. — Seedling of Napoleon Bigarreau, by 
H. W. Prettyman, of East Portland, and named by 
Oregon State Horticultural Societv in t888; described 



as larger than Napoleon ; firm ; dark red ; "fit to 
eat earlier than Napoleon, but coming to full ma- 
turity somewhat later." Introduced in 1888 by W. S. 
Failing. Portland. 

Lambert. — Seedling of J. H. Lambert. Milwaukee, 
Oregon. 1887 ; presented to Oregon State Horticultu- 
raK Society ; right to propagate sold to Oregon Nur- 
sery Co.. 1896, and introduced by this company; very 
large, roundish, heart-shaped ; stem long, slender, 
suture medium depth, acid; smooth, glossy, c'ark 
purplish red; flesh dark purplish red, firm; flavor 
rich, quality good. Ripens ten days to two weeks 
iifter Black Tartarian. 

Andrezcs. — Fruited French seedling about 1896 by 
C. N. Andrews, Redlands. Grown in mountain val- 
ley near Redlands. Apparently a fine shipping va- 
riety locally named after the grower. 

Paul. — Found by E. V. D. Paul of Ukiah on place 
purchased by him and previous owner could not 
account for its presence. Very large, black, mot- 
tled with dark red ; late ; remarkable shipping endur- 
ance demonstrated ; diploma at Oregon Cherry Fair. 
1907. Propagated and introduced by Leonard Coates 
Co.. Morgan Hill. California. 1908. 

Non/'areil. — Originated at Vaca Valley Orchard; a 
fine, black, shipping cherry, owned by Earl Fruit 
Company of Vacaville and not distributed. 

Oregon has been prolific in originating new 
varieties of the cherry which are locally 
popular, but only a few have established 

themselves in California. 




The Peach 



188 



California Fniits : 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE PEACH: GREATEST OF CALIFORNIA DECIDUOUS FRUITS. 



UNTIL the great prune olanting passion 
of a decade ago the peach was the 
greatest deciduous fruit of California judged 
by the total number of trees in service. 
When the boom impression went forth that 
cured prunes could be put into sacks more 
cheaply than wheat, people took to planting 
prune orchards by the section all through 
the wheat districts of the great valley, and 
boom planters even carried the trees where 
no one would think of planting wheat — 
cutting up shallow-clay upland sheep pas- 
tures and even yucca sand wastes into prune- 
growing colonies. Under such planting prop- 
ositions it is little wonder our nurseries 
sold prune trees for twice the normal prices 
and still could not fill the demand. Figures 
of prune trees in orchard ruslied far beyond 
the peach figures. This overplanting of 
prunes naturally brought loss and disappoint- 
ment, and interest turned again to peach 
planting, so that now there is little differ- 
ence between the peach and the prune, as 
shown by statistics in Chapter VI. During 
the last three years the peach has had the 
call, the nurseries have had difficulty in 
keeping up with the planting demand for 
certain varieties, which will be discussed 
later, and the peach promises very soon to 
attain again its old position by possession of 
a greater acreage than is given to any other 
deciduous fruit. 

The peach was the first fruit to ripen on 
the improved trees brought here by the early 
American settlers, and the magnificence of 
the peach was consequently the key-note of 
the refrain which greeted the ears of the 
world in which the California gold cry was 
ringing early in the fifties. In fact, the gold 
from the mine and the gold from the tree 
were very nearly related. In old Coloma, 
where gold was discovered, there was a peach 
tree which bore four hundred and fifty 
peaches in 1854, which sold for $3.00 each, 
or $1,350 for the crop of one tree, and in 



1855, six trees bore one thousand one hun- 
dred peaches, which sold for $1.00 each. 
Some of these pioneer trees are said to be 
still living and bearing fruit. 

LOXGENTTY OF THE PEACH IN 
CALIFORNIA. 

There are many other facts to establish 
the claim that the peach tree, if planted in 
a suitable soil and situation and cared for 
with any devotion and skill, is not a short- 
lived tree in California. California is too 
young to mark the limits of its duration, 
but there are instances in the earliest-settled 
places in the State, where peach trees above 
fifty years old are still vigorous and produc- 
tive. Some trees have, in fact, gone along 
in thrift until they have a bark below which 
looks like that of a forest tree, and a frame- 
work of main branches sound and stalwart 
throughout because they have never been 
allowed to sunburn until protected by their 
own roughness, and have never been pruned 
with an axe, and never lost a limb nor had a 
wound into which decay could penetrate and 
descend to the root. When the peach has a 
fair chance in its aerial parts and is in a 
soil which favors health of the roots, it 
shows itself to be very long lived in Cali- 
fornia. Where trees break to pieces and 
show decay wounds, they are in bad places 
and have suffered through natural stress 
or have been weakened by cultural errors. 

In favorable soils the peach is stronger 
and longer lived in the root than in the top, 
and sometimes triumphs over. neglect by dis- 
carding its old, wind-broken, sun-burned 
and bark-bound branches, and forms a new 
head of its own. Such renewal is sometimes 
very rapid. In the interior valley new shoots 
on a cut-back Muir tree have grown twelve 
feet in one season, with a thickness of one 
and one-half inches at the base. .Such shoots 
will bear the following summer. It is 
through this disposition to renewal of good 



How to Grow Them 



189 



Location for the Peach 



wood that the intelhgent system of pruning 
which is now prevalent, ministers to the 
longevity as well as the profitability of the 
tree, aiding it to constantly renew its youth 
by restraining its exuberance, and at the 
same time furnishing it sound new wood on 
which to grow its fruits and foliage. But 
while these are facts, there is some difference 
of opinion as to the point at which an old 
tree becomes less valuable than a young one. 
Along the Sacramento River some count 
about a dozen good crops as the limit, and 
thus replace the trees when about fifteen 
years of age. This is a point which may 
vary greatly, according to local conditions. 

Early Productiveness. — Quite as impor- 
tant as the longevity of the peach tree arc 
the facts of its rapid growth and early pro- 
ductiveness. It is the first of our fruit trees 
to attain size and yield a profitable crop. In 
localities best suited to its growth it will 
mature some fruit the second summer in the 
orchard if the small shoots are not pruned 
away from the main branches, and during 
the third summer averages of forty to fifty 
pounds per tree have been secured from 
considerable acreages. These facts are stated 
to show what the peach of good variety may 
do in a good situation and soil and with 
the best of care. Of course they are not to 
be taken as average results, although greater 
than those given are sometimes attained. 
For example, on the rich, alluvial land near 
Visalia, an Admiral Dewey yearling tree 
planted in March, 1904, had in October, 1905. 
attained these dimensions : near the ground 
the trunk was eleven and three-quarter inches 
in circumference, branching two feet from 
the ground it had four main branches, each 
seven inches in circumference ; height of 
tree, twelve feet ; spread of branches, ten 
feet. It grew near a crack in a cement 
ditch and so had all the moisture it could 
use, and being in a free, open soil was not 
impaired by standing water. 

As for possible productiveness of the peach, 
one Susquehanna tree in Kern County yielded 
twenty-seven forty-five pound picking-boxes 
— twelve hundred and fifteen pounds in one 
crop — about four times as much as good trees 
may average. 



LOCALITIES FOR THE PEACH. 

The peach has a wide range in California, 
and finds many districts suited to it in the 
several ways in which the trade delights in 
it. As compared with the apricot, the peach 
thrives in the sheltered valleys of the district 
north of the bay and west of the Coast range, 
in which the apricot is of little commercial 
moment : it yields those peerlessly beautiful 
"mountain peaches" from one to two thou- 
sand feet higher in the Sierra foot-hills than 
the apricot can be trusted; it goes everywhere 
in the lower foot-hills and over the great val- 
leys that the apricot will go, and beyond it 
also, because it is less restless in the spring 
and escapes some frosts which injure apri- 
cots. Counted from trees in orchard the 
peach is about three times as great as the 
apricot. 

Nearly every county in California reports 
the possession of peach trees. Above an 
elevation of four thousand feet on the sides 
of the Sierra Nevada, they may be subject 
to winter killing, and lower still careful choice 
of situation has to be made to avoid frosts 
at blooming-time — the peach in such places 
being subjected to some dangers which beset 
it in the eastern States. Below these points, 
however, lies the great fruit belt of the 
foot-hills of the Sierra, where the peach is 
the chief fruit grown and its excellence is 
proverbial. Size, beauty, richness, delicacy 
of flavor and firmness, which endures car- 
riage to the most distant markets, are all 
characteristics of the foot-hill peaches of 
California. 

In the great interior valleys of the State 
wherever proper condition of soil and water 
supply can be found, the peach also thrives, 
the tree making a wonderfully quick and 
large growth, and the fruit attaining great 
size. The San Joaquin \'alley is the greatest 
peach district of the State. 

In the small valleys on the west of the 
great valley and on the eastern slopes of the 
Coast Range, there are also extensive areas 
suited to the peach, and sheltered places on 
the eastern and western edges of the Sacra- 
mento \'alley have produced the earliest fruit 
for a long series of years. Recently the con- 
test for the earliest fruit of these districts, 
with the foot-hill district on the east side 
of the Sacramento Valley and special loca- 
tions in the upper San Joaquin Valley, has 
been quite close. 



Soils and Exposures 



190 



California Fruits : 



In the coast valleys, opening upon San 
Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, the 
peach is also a leading fruit. Its success 
is greatest, however, where good shelter is 
had from direct coast influences. Even where 
open to these influences, good peaches can 
be grown by choosing the smaller range of 
varieties, which do well by protecting the 
trees from harsh winds,' and by seeking 
elevation above depressed valleys, whose 
frosts are frequent. The occurrence of curl- 
leaf is a factor of much importance, which 
will be considered presently. In the coast 
counties north of the Russian River Valley 
the danger to the peach from unfavorable 
atmospheric conditions increases as one goes 
northward, and situations must be chosen 
with greater care. And yet by such exercise 
of care, peaches for home use and local mar- 
kets can be successfully grown. 

South of San Francisco Bay the coast in- 
fluences soften as you proceed southward, 
and the peach draws nearer to the ocean, 
choosing, however, elevations, and avoiding 
broad, wind-swept areas and narrow defiles 
where drafts and fogs are frequent. At 
considerable elevations, as on the Santa Cruz 
Mountains, some varieties of peaches are 
notably excellent. 'I'he general rule holds 
with the peach, as with other fruits, that 
coast influences retard ripening and the sea- 
son of the fruit is late. 

In some valleys and at elevations in south- 
ern California the peach is largely grown and 
high excellence attained while on the mesas 
and plains there is often too high a tem- 
perature which starts growth out of season 
and follows with dormancy and die-back 
when the tree ought to be most active. It 
has recently been demonstrated that varieties 
like Luken's Honey, descended from the 
Peen-to or flat peach of China, resist such 
irregularities better than the common sorts 
which are largely of Persian origin. 

SOILS AND EXPOSURES FOR THE 
PEACH. 

Though the suitability of soils for the peach 
can be somewhat extended by the choice of 
stock for budding upon, as will be considered 
presently, its range of soils is narrower than 
that of the apricot. The best peach soils are 
light, deep, sandy loams, rather dry than 
moist, but under all circumstances well drain- 



ed. It will thrive on land with a con- 
siderable mixture of coarse sand or gravel, 
providing it contain also needed elements 
of fertility ; for the rapid growth and heavy 
fruitage of the peach requires abundant 
nutrition. Though it accepts coarse materials 
both in soil and subsoil, it relishes fine sedi- 
ment and perhaps finds no more congenial 
location than in the deep, sandy loam, or 
sedimentary deposit bordering the creek 
beds of our warm valleys, and will send its 
roots deep to secure long life and abundant 
fruitage. Such soils, whether along existing 
streams or deposited by prehistoric water 
courses, which have left their mark by the 
elevated ridges of rich sediment above the 
prevailing valley soils, are warm, deep, and 
thoroughly drained, and delight the peach. 
Peaches are grown very successfully on what 
is called hard-pan land in some parts of 
Fresno County, providing the hard-pan is 
blasted as described in Chapter — . In these 
situations the hard-pan is near the surface and 
has a deep, free soil below it into which the 
roots can extend. 

At elevations on the hillsides there are 
free loams which result from decomposition 
of the underlying rocks, and on them the 
peach thrives, both where the soils them- 
selves are deep and where the underlying 
rock is loose and open, permeable by roots 
and affording escape for water. Success has 
been reported even when holes are partly 
excavated in these rotten focks, as in the 
soft sand rock on the hills east of Vaca Val- 
ley> or in the broken chalk rock in what is 
called Blackburn Gulch, near Santa Cruz. 
The superior warmth of such soils is sup- 
posed to minister to earlier ripening of the 
fruit, though the escape from cold air by 
elevation is no doubt a greater factor to the 
end. 

The influence of comparatively slight dif- 
ference in elevation is very marked. E. R. 
Thurber, of Pleasant's Valley, Solano Coimty, 
had for many years a plat of peach trees on 
a natural terrace about seventy-five feet 
higher than the general level of his orchard. 
On the terrace peaches ripen and are dis- 
posed of before the same varieties ripen in 
the orchard below. 

As in the valley a short distance to water 
is to be avoided, so on the hills too great 
percolation from higher levels is undesirable. 



How to Grow Them 



19.1 



Plantino' the Peach 



Of course natural defects of this kind can 
be corrected by adequate under-drainage. 

Still, though such be the general soil con- 
ditions best suited to the peach, the tree can 
be well grown for home use or local markets 
on somewhat heavier soil, providing there 
is good drainage, but drainage must be in- 
sisted upon, for thousands of trees have per- 
ished because planted in retentive soils with- 
out drainage. Alkaline soils which are usual- 
ly rather heavy should, however, be avoided, 
as the peach, when grown on its own roots, 
seems to be of all fruits most sensitive to 
alkali. 

As to exposures for the peach the same 
rules hold as for other fruits which are liable 
to injury when in bloom or young foliage. 
Thus low places where cold air settles should 
be avoided, also low gidches through which 
cold drafts prevail. In frosty situations an 
incline away from the morning sun will often 
allow the trees to escape serious injury. 

PROPAGATION AND PLANTING. 

The chapter on propagation gives the 
general method of growing and budding 
peach seedlings. In selecting pits, prefer- 
ence is usually given to those from strong- 
growing, yellow peaches, at least for work- 
ing on the same colored fruit, while others 
use pits of the Morris White, others the 
Strawberry, and others still will use only 
pits from vigorous seedling trees. In this 
State the peach is usually so healthy and 
vigorous, and the "yellows" not known, and 
less care may be needed in selecting pits ; 
still, there is certainly nothing lost by making 
every effort for a good stock.- 

The hard-shell sweet almond has long been 
used as a stock for the peach. It is held 
that it gives a hardier, stronger root, in dry 
soils especially. 

When it is desired to grow the peach on 
moister soil than suits its own roots, the 
St. Julian plum may be used. The Myro- 
balan has been used to some extent, but ex- 
perience generally does not favor any plum 
stock for the peach and our largest propa- 
gators have abandoned its use. 

The so-called "peach-almond" has often 
been urged as a stock for the peach but has 
been little used, probably because the straight 
peach and straight almond are so satisfactory 
and available. It is a fruit having the pit 



of a peach but the pericarp of an almond, 
that is tough and tasteless and disposed to 
split like an almond hull. Early in the fifties 
a chance hybrid of this sort appeared in the 
nursery of W. B. West, of Stockton, and 
its pits were used for nursery seedlings 
which, when budded to the peach, produced 
good trees. Trees bearing the peach-almond 
are found here and there over the State. 
Mr. Burbank has producd a hybrid of the 
W^ager peach and the Languedoc almond. 

Distance in Orchard. — Distance observed 
in planting peach orchards differs greatly, 
according to the views of different growers. 
Regarding the peach as a catch crop to plant 
between apricot, pear, cherry, walnut, fig or 
other slower-growing, larger trees, the trees 
may be set comparatively close ; that is, with 
the latter trees at thirty to forty feet, and 
alternate rows of peach planted quincvmx, 
and to be removed at the end of ten to fif- 
teen years. If the peach is to have the 
groimd to itself, some planters plant at 
eighteen feet in equilateral triangles, or 
twenty to twenty-four feet on the squares, 
the present tendency with the peach, as with 
other trees, being to give more room than 
was the custom a few years ago. 

Age of Trees. — In planting peach orchards 
yearling trees are generally used, although 
far more are planted in dormant bud than of 
any other kind of fruit trees. The reason 
for this is easily found in the disposition of 
the peach to make a tree the first year from 
the bud. It springs almost at once into a 
full outfit of laterals. Some growers em- 
ploy this disposition to form a head the first 
year in the nursery. Wlien the bud has 
grown out eighteen inches, pinch it oft' at the 
top and force out laterals, which make long 
growth the same season. When planted out 
in orchard the following winter, cut back 
to ten or twelve inches. In this any one can ' 
get a yearling with the equivalent of a two- 
year-old head on it. The common practice 
is, however, to let the growth from the bud 
proceed as it chooses, and when the year- 
ling is set in orchard, cut back to a single 
bud the laterals which are desired to form 
the head and removing others. If there is 
a dormant bud on the stem where a branch 
is desired and it is obstinate in not starting, 
a cross-cut through the bark just above it 
may concentrate pressure and force it out. 



Pruning the Peach 



192 



California Fruits : 



The development of form from a yearling 
branched in the nursery is illustrated in chap- 
ter on pruning. 

Recently preference has arisen for 
smaller trees for transplanting and, especially 
in the foot-hills, June buds, described in the 
chapter on propagation, are largely employed. 

Planting Dormant Buds. — The chapter 
on planting describes the planting of year- 
ling trees. The lifting of dormant buds from 
the home nursery and planting in orchard 
is described by P. W. Butler, of Placer 
County, as follows : 

Have the ground prepared and stakes placed in 
position in the orchard in early February, if possible, 
and begin the planting at once, while the trees are 
in dormant bud. Take no more trees from the nurs- 
ery than can be planted in half a day. Plow a fur- 
row on each side of the row, six inches from the 
trees, turning the soil from them, then two men 
with heavy spades or shovels, one on each side of 
the tree, can readily take it up without breaking 
many of the roots ; and what are so broken should 
be smoothly trimmed with a sharp knife. Place the 
trees in a tub of water, near where they are to be 
planted, and take from it only a few at a time. Put 
them in a basket or box and cover with wet sack, 
that they may be kept moist until placed in the 
ground. 

On planting, place the bud one inch below the 
level of the ground, but do not cover it until after 
it has grown to the height of a few inches. The 
stock should be cut off at the bud with a thin, sharp 
knife (and not with shears, as is often done, as the 
latter method will sometimes split the tree), when it 
will take in moisture and not heal readily. 

Some growers do not cut back the young 
seedling tree until growth has started out 
well on tile dormant bud. 

Rather more care is needed in handling 
dormant buds both in planting and in their 
youtig life in the orchard. Lookout must 
be kept for suckers and against injury in 
cultivation. Success with dormant buds is 
notable. In good hands they commonly out- 
grow yearlings planted at the same time, and 
the percentage of loss from failure of the 
bud to start is very small. Of course every 
bud should be examined before planting, 
to see that it has a healthy color. 

In the selection of peach trees for planting, 
a clean, healthy root only should be taken. 
During recent years there have been a good 
many young roots affected with knots or 
swellings from some obscure cause. Such 
trees should be burned. If planted, the knot 
sometimes grows to an enormous size and 
little or no top growth is made. 



PRUxNING THE PEACH. 

As has already been stated, the peach will 
carry a top of great fruiting longevity if the 
grower will do justice to the tree by regular 
shortening of the growth and forcing out 
new wood, upon which alone fruit is found. 
Not only does regular pruning do this, but 
it promotes longevity and vigor in the frame- 
work of the tree upon which these bearing 
shoots come. Left unpruned, the peach soon 
becomes bark-bound, and the bark itself be- 
comes hardened and brittle. Lower shoots 
are apt to give out, and the tree becomes an 
umbrella of foliage and fruit held aloft by 
bare branches bark-burned by the sun, invaded 
by borers, exuding gum, covered with moss 
and lichens — a picture of distress and un- 
profitability because its owner does not give 
vhe tree a chance to re-invigorate itself with 
large fresh leaves from the new wood which 
i,lone can carry them. 

As has been advised for other trees, the 
peach should be given a low head, developed 
hs described in the chapter on pruning. In 
its after-treatment, it has been the universal 
experience that constant "heading in" is es- 
sential to the strength and health of the tree. 
This also has been considered in an earlier 
chapter. Illustrations of the pertinence of 
these remarks are found in the practice of 
the most successful peach growers in all parts 
of the State. A few instances will be given : 

"The peach, fruiting only on wood of the previous 
year's growth, bears fruit farther away from the body 
of the tree each year, and the small shoots of from 
one-eighth to three-sixteenths in diameter begin to 
decline when the fruit is removed. To have healthy 
growth, all of these small branches must be removed 
the first winter following their fruiting, when there is 
a greater tendency to form small new growths, which 
may fruit the following season. In the peach, it 
will seldom be found necessary to remove any in- 
terior branches, except suckers, until they have pro- 
duced a crop, when they will begin to decline and 
should be removed. 

"I would certainly not cut peach trees back less 
than one-half of the new growth in the winter prun- 
ing, and our trees are getting too large for their 
age even with that amount of pruning. This has 
suggested, in other localities, summer pruning or 
shortening in, with success in some places. So far 
my own experience is favorable. It will be noticed 
on trees kept growing rapidly that the fruit buds 
are near the ends of the shoots, and it seems to take 
away too many of these buds to cut back one-half 
in the winter pruning, but by cutting back about 
one-half the new growth in August, fruit buds are 
developed lower down, and where they would not 



How to Grow Them 



193 



Irrigating the Peach 



be developed without the summer pruning." — H. Cul- 
bcrtson, El Cajon, San Diego County. 

"Prune the peach every year, cutting back and 
thinning out the center, using great care not to cut 
out too many of the little fruit shoots of new: wood 
growing on the main branches, but removing the 
slender branches of the old wood, leaving as many 
branches of the new growth as the tree will support. 
In this case judgment must be used as to what the 
tree will support. The soil may be wet or dry, rich 
or poor, the grower must be the judge. To grow 
small fruit, prune lightly; to grow large fruit, prune 
with care and judgment. To get this judgment you 
must have some practical experience. I prefer doing 
the work when the sap begins moving in the spring 
of the year. All cuts heal over better then and the 
pruner can see how the buds are setting and use 
his own judgment as to how much wood he wants to 
cut out." — R. C. Kells. Yuba City, Sutter County. 

"Cutting back the peach must be more severe, as 
the growth of the new wood diminishes. Not more 
than five or si.\ fruit buds should be left on a shoot, 
and if the fruit all sets, it must be also thinned. 
The trees should be trained low and their vigor en- 
couraged by permitting a reasonable amount of 
young shoots to grow around the lower part of the 
main limbs. When this method is continued sys- 
tematically every season, the trees will beai large 
crops of fruit, of good quality, for many years. 
When they are allowed to overbear for one or two 
seasons, the fruit will decrease in size, and soon be- 
come almost worthless; the trees will be enfeebled, 
and in consequence very liable to be attacked by 
disease. The only thing to be done in this case is to 
cut off the whole top of the tree, allowing it to form 
a new head. I have seen old peach orchards thns 
renovated, and the results are often very flattering, 
but it is far better not to allow them to get into a 
condition where this desperate remedy is necessary." 
— Leonard Coates, Nat>a. 

Cutting Back thh; Peach is Not Shear- 
ing.^— Some undertake the annual pruning of 
the peach by a shearing proees.s, treating a 
fruit tree as one would a hedge — cutting 
everything to a line. There has been a good 
deal of this done in California, but it is 
wrong nevertheless. Shortening in the new 
growth of the peach each year is proper prac- 
tice. It is the first step toward preventing 
overbearing of small, unmarketable fruit and 
saving the tree from profitless and injurious 
effort. Thinning the shoots by removing all 
but one when two or three start from the 
same point is also working toward large fruit 
and regular bearing in the tree. This short- 
ening and thinning of the new wood must 
also be followed by thinning of the young 
fruit just after the natural drop and it is 
seen that the tree carries too many. Proper 
pruning can not be done by shearing because 
it is apt to shorten the strong shoots too much 



and the weak shoots too little. Each shoot 
must be cut by itself according to its growth 
and its ability to carry more or less fruit. 
Shearing, too, does not thin out the shoots 
but continually multiplies them until the 
tree is full of brush as a hedge. 

THINNING PEACHES. 
Thinning out fruit on the peach tree is not 
only the secret of obtaining good, marketable 
fruit, but joins hands with pruning in pre- 
serving the health and future production of 
the tree. The importance of thinning has 
been urged in a previous chapter, but the 
following is a very strong statement, by Mr. 
Culbertson : 

In my own experience there is no single operation 
in connection with fruit growing of more impor- 
tance than thinning. The past season, in order to 
test the difference in expense of preparing large and 
small peaches for drying, I timed the cutting, and 
found it took double the time; hence, double the 
expense, which meant a difference of about $15 per 
ton of dried fruit. Add to this a difference of two 
cents per pound in price makes $55 per ton. Sup- 
pose an orchard under good treatment produces a 
ton of peaches tj) the acre, then $55 would represent 
the difference in profits. Unthinned or small fruit 
is certainly undesirable. 

As to how much thinning should be done there 
are diverse opinions. Some take offi one-half, others 
three-fourths. Some growers thin to meet a certain 
ideal, but find it difficult to explain in words. The 
common rule of leaving a specimen of fruit every 
four or six inches is a safe rule; that means many 
must come off. Different conditions of soils, climates 
and irrigation vary the amount to thin out more or 
less. l\Iore may be left where the tree is on land 
giving a strong, vigorous growth. 

In thinning peaches I have been practicing a meth- 
od that gives good results and is easily learned. The 
peach bears on three sizes of branches, that are one- 
eighth, three-sixteenths, and one-fourth of an inch 
in diameter. The first has two peaches, the second 
three, and the third four; this, of course, after there 
has been a judicious course of pruning and the trees 
under irrigation ; trees on dry land should have only 
one-half as many left. To reach this result often 
a dozen may have to come off, allowing only two to 
remain. The more there are the greater necessity for 
thinning. 

The time for thinning peaches is as soon as one 
can be sure which are likely to remain on the tree 
and which will drop of their own a(!cord. 

IRRIGATION OF THE PEACH. 
As the i^each is the greatest deciduous 
fruit of the interior valleys and foot-hills, it 
is also the deciduous fruit which is chiefly 
grown with irrigation. Most of the specific 
conclusions set forth in Chapter XV are 



Diseases of the Peach 



194 



California Fruits 



based upon experience with the peach and the 
reader is advised to consider them from that 
point of view. One of the most important 
points of success in irrigating the peach is 
to use enough water earlier in its growth so 
that apphcation need not be inade within 
about three weeks of ripening. Enough water 
before that will usually insure size on prop- 
erly thinned trees and the withholding of 
water near ripening will secure good quality. 
After the crop is gathered, irrigation can be 
resumed to continue the late summer growth 
for next year's fruit buds and to save the tree 
from injury during the long autumn drouth. 

WORKING OVER PEACH TREES. 

The fashion in peaches changes from time 
to time according to the demands of the 
canners or the market for dried fruit. The 
grower often finds varieties which he first 
selected, less healthy, less productive, or, for 
other reason, less desirable than others. 
There is, therefore, often occasion for work- 
ing over trees. Budding is often resorted to, 
buds being successfully set in^quite old wood, 
providing buds from well-matured wood are 
taken. Wood buds from young trees un- 
accompanied by fruit are best, but because 
of greater certainty of securing the variety 
desired, it is common to take wood and fruit 
buds together from bearing trees. A larger 
cut of bud and adjacent bark is taken when 
working in old bark than for use on seed- 
lings. When a branch is budded, it is some- 
times broken at a distance beyond the bud 
and allowed to hang, the idea being to fur- 
nish the bud some but not too much sap. 
Some growers thus bud and break part of the 
branches, allowing others to remain un- 
worked, to maintain the growing processes 
of the tree. These branches and those in 
which buds have not taken, are cut off and 
grafted the following spring. The almond is 
successfully grafted over with the peach, and 
this course has been followed with thousands 
of unproductive almonds. 

Grafting the Peach. — Grafting the peach 
by the ordinary top-grafting with a cleft 
graft seldom succeeds. A side graft with 
saw and knife is better. It is described by 
J. W. Mills, formerly of the University 
Branch Experiment Stations, in southern 
California, as follows : 



Saw grafting is rapidly taking the place of cleft 
grafting, for it does away with all difficulties aris- 
ing from splitting and there is no cavity left in the 
heart of the limb or tree. The process is to saw off 
the limb at the desired place as in cleft grafting, 
then saw across the corner and down the side at an 
angle of about 45 degrees and trim out with a sharp 
knife. Place the knife blade a little to one side of 
the saw cut, a little farther from the edge at the top 
than at the bottom, and by pressing on the knife the 
whole sides of the crevice will be trimmed smoothly 
at one stroke ; this operation repeated on the other 
side of the saw cut will make a neat notch in the 
end of a solid limb. By cutting a little deepen from 
the saw cut at the top than at the bottom, and if the 
amateur does not trim his scion at the right angle, 
he can insert it gently in the crevice or notch and 
see just where to trim. If he is so slow that the 
fresh cut shows signs of discoloration, he can make 
a fresh surface by placing his knife parallel to the 
edges and shaving ofT a thin slice. He still retains 
the same angle, but the scion will set a little deeper, 
which is no objection. By cutting a thin layer off 
the top of the stump next to the notch will show 
exactly where the inside layer of bark is. The inside 
bark of the scion must be even with the inside layer 
of the bark of the stump or limb that is being grafted. 
If the scion is inclined slightly out or in at the top, 
it will make a correct union at some point and be 
sure to grow. If the inclination is very slight the 
union will extend over considerable length and will 
make a inuch better start than if the union is at only 
one point, owing to the enlarged surface through 
which the sap is transmitted. One of the most im- 
portant points in grafting is to have good wax and 
go over the grafts a few days after they are put in 
and rewax them. 



DISEASES OF THE PEACH. 

CuRL-LfiAF. — The most prevalent trouble 
with the peach tree in California is the curl- 
leaf. It was noticed from the first planting 
of peach trees by Americans, nearly forty 
years ago, and free conjecture as to its 
cause was indulged in until it was shown to 
be a specific fungus, and its prevention by 
washes of fungicidal character demonstrated. 
The treatment will be described in the chap- 
ter on tree diseases. The facts of its occur- 
rence may be stated as follows': 

Curl-leaf is onuch more prevalent in some 
sections than others, and in one place than 
another in the same section, and some sec- 
tions are practically free from it. Some 
varieties are much more subject to curl-leaf 
than others ; generally speaking, some curl 
nearly everywhere, others curl in one place 
and not in another, others are practically free 
from curl in all situations. 

Curl-leaf occurs in various degrees. Mild 
cases do not seem to injure either tree or 



How to Grow Them 



195 



\'arieties of the Peach 



fruit ; severe cases destroy the fruit and 
sometimes the tree itself. The disease is 
ahnost always at its height when the young 
fruit is about the size of small peas. If 
the curl is "bad," the fruit will fall to the 
ground, there not being healthy leaves enough 
to afford the required support. If, however, 
the curl is moderate and partial, only a part 
and sometimes none of the fruit will be lost. 
The disease, as is well known, is of brief 
duration, say twelve to twenty days, after 
which the trees resume a healthy appearance 
in every respect, and if the fruit has been 
able to survive the ordeal, it also appears to 
grow and become as perfect as if no check 
had been given to its growth. But it is 
better to save the tree the burden of a new 
foliage growth. 

Mildew. — This disease, 'which occurs in 
the form of whitish felted patches on leaf and 
twig early in the spring, and finally affects 
the fruit, has long been troublesome in this 
State, and occurs on certain susceptible va- 
rieties in many localities from the coast 
to the Sierra foothills. Observation in this 
State has fully affirmed the statement of 
Downing, that the serrate, glandless-leaved 
varieties are liable, and those with good 
glands on the leaf stems are free. 

The conclusion would be that where mildew 
prevails, varieties with serrate, glandless 
leaves should be avoided. But it has been 
found that some glandless-leaved varieties, 
although subject to mildew, resist curl-leaf. 
Therefore it may be worth while to combat 
the mildew. This has been done effectually 
by treatment which will be described in a 
later chapter. 

As with curl-leaf, mildew is prevalent 
some years and slight in others. 

The most serious disease which has thus 
far stricken the peach in California is locally 
known as the "peach blight," the work of a 
shot-hole fungus (coryneuin). This also has 
been satisfactorily checked by spraying as 
will be described in the Chapter on Diseases 
of Trees and \'ines. 

A common trouble of the peach known as 
"split-pit," has recently been studied bv the 
California Experiment Station and the tenta- 
tive conclusion has been reached that split- 
pits are physiological phenomena and not 
caused by any disease germ. Whether this 
abnormal growth is due to weakness of vari- 



ety or to cultural conditions is not determined. 
It is true that varieties differ in amount of 
splitting, and selection is being made to some 
extent on that basis. 

VARIETIES OF THE PEACH. 

Nearly all varieties of the peach have been 
tried in California, and, as with other fruits, 
it has been found that varieties must be 
chosen wth reference to their success in 
special locations. Choice has also to be made 
according to the purpose of the grower, 
whether for early marketing, for sale to can- 
ners, for drying, or distant shipment or for 
late marketing. As with apples, there is little 
use of planting early varieties (unless it 
be for home or local use) except in very 
early regions. An early peach from a late 
region is killed by competition with better 
middle season sorts from the earlier regions. 

In an early region one can plant early, 
middle, and late varieties to advantage, and 
thus secure a very long-fruiting season. The 
peach season in interior districts begins at 
the first of June with the Alexander, and 
continues to the end of November with local 
seedlings — giving six months of peaches. 
Of course the very early and very late sorts 
are only of use for marketing as table fruit. 
The most important series is a fine succession 
of mid-season peaches, suitable either for 
canning, drying, or distant shipment. Such 
a selection can be made from the tables and 
descriptions which will be given later. 

Color is a most important item in the 
peach. While canners and Eastern shippers 
use the beautiful white peaches to advantage, 
the fashion for canning and drying is now 
strong in support of the yellow-fleshed cling- 
stone varieties. The yellow freestone peaches 
are also in greatest demand. The color about 
the pit is also an important point. Canners 
demand a peach, whether white or yellow, 
which is almost free from color at the pit, 
because the extraction of the red color dyes 
the juice ; in drying, the demand just now is 
for a yellow peach with a red center, because 
the colors give the dried fruit a more attrac- 
tive appearance. Of course there is a mar- 
ket for dried white peaches but the prefer- 
ence is for the yellow. 

A succession of yellow freestones very 
popular in the San Joaquin Valley is the fol- 
lowing: Foster, Wheatland, Elberta, Muir. 



Peach Varieties Approved 196 California Fruits 



Peach varieties approved by California growers. 

Upper Central Interior 

VARIETIES. coast coast valley and 

valleys. valleys. foot-hill. 

Alexander * * ^,« 

Amsden 

Albright 

Bergen 

Bilyeu 

Briggs' May 

California Cling 

Decker 

Early Charlotte 

Early Crawford 

Early York 

Elberta .... 

Foster 

George Fourth 

Georg^e's Late Cling 

Gen. Bidwell 

Globe 

Golden Cling (Sellers) 

Hale's Early 

Heath Cling 

Henrietta (Levy's) 

Honest Abe 

Honey (Lukens') 

Imperial 

Indian Blood 

Jones' Large Early 

LaGrange 

Late Crawford 

Lemon Cling 

Lovell 

McDevitt Cling 

McClish Cling 

McKevitt Cling 

Mary's Choice 

Morris' White 

Muir 

Newhall 

NichoU's Cling 

Oldmixon Free 

Orange Cling 

Peento 

Persian Cling 

Phillips' Cling 

Piquet's Late 

Runyon's Orange Cling 

Salway 

Smock 

Snow 

St. John 

Strawberry 

Stump 

Susquehanna 

Triumph 

Tuskena (Tuscan) 

Wheatland 

Wylie Cling 

Yellow Tuscany 

* Indicates that the variety is approved in the region designated. 
** Most highly commended. 







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"■■;;■ 



How to Grow Them 



197 



Peaches Grown in Salifornia 



Lovell, Late Crawford, Sahvay. A succes- 
sion of yellow clingstones is this : Tuskena, 
Seller's, Runyon's, McDewitt's, Henrietta, 
Phillips. The two most popular white clings 
in the same region are McKevitt's and Heath. 

In the enumeration following the table 
only those seedlings which are now com- 
mercially propagated are included. Many 
which were prominent ten years ago have 
been dropped by this test. The writer has 
record of many others some of them likely 
to rise to important place, which are reserved 
until after further trial. 

The following are the peaches chiefly 
grown in California, arranged approximately 
in the order of ripening: 

Brigg's Red May (California). — Originated as a 
chance seedling in nursery row, on the farm of 
John G. Briggs, on the Feather River, about one 
mile from Yuba City, about 1870. It was found to 
be about ten days earlier than the Early Tillotson, 
which was then the stand-by for an early peach. 
Fruit medium to large, round ; white skin with rich, 
red cheek; partially free, a standard early variety; 
subject to mildew. 

Jones' Large Early (New York). — Large, round- 
ish, flattened, white with deep crimson. 

Alexander (Illinois). — Most widely grown as best 
early variety. Fruit medium to large ; greenish white, 
nearly covered with deep red; flesh firm, juicy, and 
sweet; bears transportation well; pit is partly free. 

Triumph (Georgia). — Medium sized, early, yel- 
low, partial cling, very good. 

Ainsden (Missouri). — Resembles preceding, but 
averages smaller; claimed by some to be slightly 
earlier; rather less liable to curl-leaf. 

Honey (Lukens). — Medium, oblong pointed, white 
mottled carmine very sweet, related to Peen-to. 

Pecn-to. — Flat peach or saucer peach of China ; 
good in Southern California. 

Early Imperial (California). — Originated by W. 
W. Smith, Vacaville, and planted to secure a yel- 
low freestone earlier or larger than St. John. Most 
growers find it no improvement on St. John. 

Yelloiv St. John (New Orleans). — Earliest j'ellow 
peach ; averages smaller than Yellow Crawford, but 
cl.assed as large ; roundish, orange yellow with deep 
red cheek; juicy, sweet, and high flavored; freestone. 

Hale's Early (Ohio). — Medium to large, nearly 
round ; skin greenish, mostly covered and mottled 
with red when ripe; flesh white, melting, juicy, rich 
and sweet; fair for local market and shipping; wide- 
ly grown ; freestone. 

Strazi.'berry (New Jersey). — Medium size, oval; 
stem cavity deeply sunk ; suture extending half way 
round ; skin almost wholly inarbled with deep red ; 
flesh whitish, juicy, rich and delicate; tree healthy. 



Bergen's Yellow (New York). — Large, roundish; 
suture deep; orange yellow, red cheek; approved in 
Southern California. 

Foster (Massachusetts.) — L'niformly large, slight- 
ly flattened ; slight suture ; stem moderately depress- 
ed ; flesh yellow, very rich and juicy; color deep 
orange, dark red in the sun ; freestone ; tree hardy 
and productive ; very widely grown in California 
and popular. Ripens before Early Crawford, which 
it sometimes resembles, but is of better quality. 

Crawford's Early (New Jersey). — Very large, ob- 
long, swollen, point at the top prominent, suture 
shallow ; skin yellow, with red cheek ; flesh yellow, 
rich, and e.xcellent ; freestone; tree very healthy and 
productive ; probably the most largely planted variety 
in California. 

George the Fourth (New York), — Large, round, 
deeply divided by broad suture ; sides unequal ; skin 
pale yellowish white, dotted with red and red cheek ; 
flesh pale, red at pit, from which it parts freely; 
quality good. Sotnewhat troubled with curl-leaf. 

Snozi.' (Amerfcan). — Large, globular; skin clear, 
beautiful, almost wholly white ; flesh white to the 
free stone, juicy, rich and sprightly. 

Mary's Choice (New Jersey). — Large, yellow, re- 
sembling Early Crawford, but ripening later. 

Red Cheek Melocoton (.\merican). — Large, round- 
ish oval, swollen point at top ; yellow, with deep red 
cheek ; flesh yellow, red at stone, which is free, 
juicy, good flavor. Approved in Humboldt and San 
Benito Counties. 

Tuskena (Alabama or Mississippi). — Wrongly 
called "Tuscan" and "Tustin'' Cling in this State ; 
largely planted in interior valleys and foot-hills; very 
large yellow cling; the earliest fine cling variety; 
very valuable for early shipping. Ripens with Craw- 
ford's Early. 

Oldmixon Free (.\mcrican). — Large, roundish or 
slightly oval ; greenish or yellowish white, marbled 
with red; flesh white, tender, and excellent, juicy 
and rich ; high flavor. 

Honest Abe (California). — "Originated at Healds- 
burg, Sonoma County. Large, yellow, with red 
cheek; best quality; ripens between Crawford's Early 
and Late. Does not curl." — James Shinn. 

Morris White. — Large, oval ; skin white with creamy 
tint when fully ripe ; flesh white to the stone, which is 
free; melting, juicy, sweet, and rich; especially good 
for home use and canning; somewhat subject to 
curl-leaf. 

JVagcr (New York). — Limuou yellow tinged with 
red; flesh yellow, rich, juicy, sweet, and excellent, 
Iiaving much the appearance and flavor of apricots; 
stone small and free from the flesh ; quality best. 

Muir (California). — Originated as chance seed- 
ling on place of John Muir, near Silve>'\'ille, named 
and first propagated by G. W. Thissell, of Winters. 
Fruit large to very large ; perfect freestone ; flesh clear 
yellow, very dense, rich and sweet ; pit small ; tree 
a good bearer and strong grower, if on rich soil, 
to which it is best adapted; free from curl in Vaca- 
ville district ; fruit a good shipper and canner and 



Peaches Grown in California 



198 



California Fruits 



peculiarly adapted to drying because of exceptional 
sweetness and density of flesh ; yield, one pound dry 
from less than five pounds fresh. One of the best 
California seedlings. Claimed by some to be identi- 
cal with Wager. 

Muir variations with large flowers, with fruit like 
Muir but not splitting at pit, reported by W. A. 
Rosander, Kingsburg, A. S. Coon, Fresno, and H. R. 
Shaw. Selma. 



a dark red cheek; flesh deep yellow, juicy, and a 
rich, vinous flavor; ripens about one week before 
Crawford's Late; tree very hardy, healthy, vigorous, 
and not affected by curl ; freestone." — John Rock. 

Stump the World (New Jersey). — Large, strong; 
skin creamy white, with bright red cheek ; flesh white, 
juicy and high flavored. Commended for family nse 
by the Southern California Nurserymen's Associa- 
tion. Curls somewhat in some localities; freestone. 




The Lovell, a California seedling. 



Muir Cling by W. R. Fletcher, Green Valley, So- 
noma county. Commended by Green Valley Can- 
nery; propagated by A. F. Scheidecker, S'anta Rosa, 
1907. 

Wheatland (New Yqrk). — Large, roundish; skin 
golden yellow, shaded with crimson ; flesh yellow, 
rather firm, juicy, sweet, and of fine quality. 

Elberta (Georgia). — Very large; round-oval with 
deep suture; golden-yellow, faint red stripes; flesh 
yellow, fine, juicy, rich and sweet; tree prolific; per- 
fect freestone. 

Newhall (California). — "Originated with Sylvester 
Newhall, of San Jose. Very large ; skin yellow, with 



Crawford's Late (New Jersey). — Very large, round- 
ish, yellow with dark red cheek; flesh deep yellow, 
juicy, and melting; flavor rich and excellent; a pop- 
ular and widely-grown variety, but very subject to 
curl-leaf in some localities; freestone. 

Lemon Clingstone (South Carolina). — Large, lem- 
on-shaped or oblong, having large, projecting, swoll- 
en point like a lemon ; skin fine yellow ; flesh firm, 
yellow with sprightly, vinous subacid ; slightly red 
at the pit, which adheres firnjly. 

Orange Clingstone. — Large, round ; suture distinct- 
ly marked and extending nearly around the fruit; no 
swelling at ape.x, like Lemon Clingstone ; deep orange 



How to Grow Them 



199 



Peach Varieties in California 



color, with red cheek; flesh yellow, firm, juicy, with 
rich flavor; somewhat subject to mildew. Though 
largely grown, this variety has been largely sup- 
planted by the following sub-varieties, which are 
seedlings from it. 

Seller's Golden Cling (California). — Originated on 
the farm of S. A. Sellers, Contra Costa County, and 
introduced by James Shinn. Very large, rich golden 
color ; tree healthy ; one of the very best of clings ; 
ripens with Late Crawford. 



yellow-fleshed, free from curl, hardy, vigorou.s, pro- 
ductive, superior for market or drying; planted more 
extensively in Santa Rosa Valley than in any other." 
— Luther Burbank.. 

Stilson (California). — "Originated at Marysville 
(?). Perfect in shape; very large; red cheek with 
crimson stripes; yellow-fleshed, more highly colored 
than Susquehanna ; table and market quality excel- 
lent ; ripens after Crawford's Late ; freestone" — P. 
W. Butler. 




Phillips' Cling, a California seedMng. 



Runyon's Orange Cling (California). — "Originated 
with Mr. Sol Runyon, on the Sacramento River. 
Superior to the common Orange Cling. Runyon's 
Orange Cling has globose glands, and is not subject 
to mildew like the common sort. Fruit very large, 
yellow, with a dark crimson cheek; rich, sugary, and 
vinous flavor. Highly esteemed and extensively 
planted in the Sacramento region and elsewhere." 
—John Rock. 

Niehol's Orange Cling (California). — Originated 
by Joseph Nichols, of Niles, introduced by James 
Shinn. Large, yellow, with purple cheek ; flesh yel- 
low and good. Tree healthy and a heavy bearer. 

Peck's Orange Cling (California.) — "Originated at 
Healdsburg, Sonoma County. Improved seedling of 
Orange Cling, of Downing. Large, handsome. 



.Susquehanna (Pennsylvania). — Large, nearly glob- 
ular; suture half round; skin rich yellow, nearly 
covered with red; flesh yellow, sweet, juicy, with 
rich, vinous flavor; freestone; tree healthy. Very 
widely distributed and popular. 

McCozvan's Cling (California). — Ori.ginated with 
Dr. McCowan, of Ukiah. Yellow cling; round, 
smooth outline; no suture; no red at pit, which is 
small ; flesh firm, fine-grained, and sweet ; not much 
subject to curl; fruit apt to run small unless care- 
fully thinned ; reported an irregular bearer in Ala- 
meda County ; liked by canners ; approved in Placer 
County. 

Lovell (California). — Originated as chance seed- 
ling with G. W. Thissell, and named by him in 1882; 
propagated by Leonard Coates, of Xapa. Yellow 



Peach Vatieties in California 



200 



Califoruia Fruits : 



freestone ; size uniformly large, almost perfectly 
round ; flesh fine, texture firm, solid, clear yellow 
to the pit; tree a good grower and bearer; superior 
for canning and shipping, and dries well. Said to 
curl in some places. "The richest peach I ever saw 
on a tray." — E. A. Bonine, Los Angeles County. 
The most popular yellow freestone for canning and 
drying. Sometimes reported as drying "heavier" 
than the Muir. 

McKevitt's Cling (California). — Originated as 
chance seedling in apricot orchard planted by M. R. 
Miller, on place owned later by A. McKevitt, 
Vaca Valley; named in 1882 by nurserymen who 
propagated it. A white clingstone ; flesh very firm, 
fine-grained, sugary, and rich, high flavor, white to 
the pit ; skin strong and fruit excellent for shipping 
or canning; tree remarkably strong in growth and 
free from disease. Widely distributed. 

McClish. — Yellow cling, grown in Sonoma County. 

Wylie Cling. — An old seedling by John Wylie, 
Green Valley, Sonoma County, increasing in popu- 
larity in northern Sonoma County as superior to 
Orange Cling in not splitting at the pit, and not 
dropping from the tree. A fine peach for canning 
and drying. 

General Bidivcll (California). — Originated from a 
shoot from a peach root upon which an apricot had 
grown and died, on Rancho Chico. Named by 
State Horticultural Society, September 4, 1886, and 
commended for cultivation. Ripens one week later 
than Late Crawford and ahead of Salway and Pic- 
quet's Late. About the shape of the Orange Cling, 
but larger ; very yellow with reddish cheek ; flesh 
very solid, juicv. and rich ; freestone and a small 
pit. 

California; syn. Edward's Cling (California). — 
"Originated in Sacramento. Very large, round, regu- 
lar ; orange, nearly covered with dark, rich red ; 
flesh deep vellow ; flavor delicate, rich vinous." — C. 
IV. Reed. 

Picqucl's Late (Georgia). — Large to very large; 
round, sometimes a little flattened, yellow, with red 
cheek ; flesh yellow, melting, sweet, rich and fra- 
grant; freestone; not subject to curl-leaf. 

Smock Freestone (New Jersey). — "Large yellow, 
mottled with red; moderately rich and juicy. A bet- 
ter drying peach than Salway."-;-iJ. A. Bonine. 

La Grange (New Jersey). — Large, oblong; green- 
ish white, some red on sunny side ; not desirable in 
coast regions; freestone. 

5a/7t'a_v (English). — Large, roundish oblate; suture 
broad, deep, extending beyond the apex ; skin downy, 
creamy yellow, rich, clear, crimson cheek; flesh deep 
yellow, red at the pit; juicy, rich, sweet, vinous; 
freestone; a standard late peach in California; tree 
very healthy. 

Phillips' Cling (California). — Originated with Jo- 
seph Phillips, of Sutter County; propagated by J. T. 
Bogue, of Marysville. Fine large yellow cling, no 
color at pit. which is very small ; exceedingly rich 
and high-colored ; described by Mr. Skinner, superin- 
tendent Marysville Cannery, as the best peach he 
ever used. The most popular yellow clingstone. 



Ripens progressively so that picking can cover two 
weeks without falling from tree. Requires good land 
and ample moisture. 

Persian's Cling (California). — "Originated in Vi- 
salia, probably from seed of Heath Cling, and a few 
days earlier than its parent. Large ; clear white skin 
and flesh, the latter very sweet; commended for can- 
ning." — L H. Thomas, Tulare County. 

Heath (Maryland). — Described by Downing as the 
most delicious of all clingstones. Very large ; skin 
downy, creamy white, with faint blush of red ; flesh 
greenish white, very tender and juicy, with most 
luscious flavor ; best adapted to interior regions, or 
places free from curl. 

Stcadly (Missouri). — "Large to very large; white 
skin ; flesh white at the pit, firm, rich, and good 
flavor; freestone. Produces very heavy yield of dried 
fruit." — /. H. Thomas, Tulare County. 

George's Late Cling (California). — "Originated in 
Sacramento. Large ; white flesh, colored around the 
pit ; beautiful yellow color, striped and splashed with 
bright red ; a very heavy and uniform bearer ; a 
good shipper and at its season of ripening there is 
no peach grown in Placer County that yields the 
grower so much profit." — P. IV. Butler. Subject to 
mildew in some localities. 

Yellow Tuscany (Dura cini. Tuscany). — A very 
large yellow cling; propagated by G. Tosetti, form- 
erly of San Leandro ; tree a strong grower and free 
from curl-leaf, very productive. On the basis of its be- 
havior at the University Experiment Station at Po- 
mona, this variety has recently been largely planted 
in southern California. It is counted the best yel- 
low cling for canning in that section. Ripens with 
Lemon Cling. 

Albright's Cling (California). — "Originated with 
Mr. Albright, near Placerville. Very large ; yellow, 
with bright cheek; rarely equaled in quality and 
flavor. Described as larger, more highly colored, of 
better flavor, better shape, and the tree a more pro- 
lific bearer than the Orange Cling." — P. IV. Butler. 
Endures long shipment even after being well 
colored. 

McDcvitt C//)ig.— "Originated with Neal McDevitt, 
of Placer County. Uniformly large; rich, golden yel- 
low, becoming red when ripe ; flesh very firm and 
solid, superior in flavor; excellent shipper; tree good 
and regular bearer. 

Staley (California). — Very large; eleven and one- 
half inches in circumference; somewhat elongated 
and flattened laterally; rich, creamy white with very 
faint touches of light red; suture shallow, but almost 
continuous around the peach ; stone small and per- 
fectly free, cavity considerably longer than stone ; 
flesh white to the pit. very juicy, fine, tender; flavor 
delicious. Originated as sucker from peach root 
from which prune had been broken off in Selma, 
Fresno County. Ripens twenty days after Salway or 
four weeks after Susquehanna. A high-class white 
freestone. Introduced by F. M. Nevins, Selma. 

Levy's Late; syn. Henrietta (District of Columbia). 
— Above average size, yellow flesh, red cheek ; late ; 
clingstone. Very popular in San Joaquin Valley. 




r:%wj'smsiaet. 



How to Grow Tlieiu 



201 



Dates of Ripening 



Dates of ripening of leading varieties. 



The relative ripening of a large number of peach varieti 
Experiment Station, at Pomona, will be useful to planters 
sion of varieties, although of course the exact dates will not 



s. as noted at the University 
1 determining proper succes- 
videly apply. 



June 16 

June 17 

June 17 

July 15 
Julv 
Julv 



17 
21 

July 21 
Jul> 25 
3 
5 
5 



VARIETY. First flower. Kull flower. 

Briggs' Red May March 4 March 24 

Amsden's June March 8 March 25 

Alexander March 17 March 3 1 

Large Early York March 4 March 18 

Yellow St. John March 4 March 12 

Crawford's Early March 2 March 15 

Foster .-. March 4 March 15 

Oldmixon Free March 7 March IS 

Morris White March 4 March 15 

Muir March 8 March 23 

Susquehanna March 4 March 14 

Crawford's Late March 2 March 14 

Newhall March 4 March 14 

Runyon's Orange Cling March 2 March 14 

California Cling March 2 aiarch 16 

Stump the World March 2 March 16 

Lovell Feb. 28 March 9 

Nichols' Orange Cling March 4 March 14 

Seller's Cling March 2 March 14 

McDevitt's Cling March 2 March 18 

McKevitfs Cling March 2 March 19 

Wilkins' Cling March 3 March 14 

Indian Blood March 5 March 25 

Yellow Tuscany Cling March 5 March 19 

Lemon Cling March 14 April 1 

Smock's Late Free March 4 March 1 8 

Picquet's Late March 5 March 18 

Staley's California March 2 March 15 

Henrietta (Levy's) March 6 March 15 

Heath's Cling. '. March 7 March 14 

Salway March 7 March 9 



Aug. 
Aug. 
Aug. 

Aug. 8 

Aug. 8 

Aug. 8 

Aug. 12 

Aug. 12 

Aug. 13 

Aug. 14 

Aug. 14 

Aug. 16 

Aug. 19 

Aug. 20 

Aug. 20 

Aug. 21 

Aug. 21 

Aug. 28 

Sept. 1 

Sept. 6 

Sept. 15 

Sept. 15 

Sept. IS 



Bilyeu's Late October. — "Large ; greenish white Decker 

with red cheek; flesh whitish, freestone; tree a rapid ment. in 
grower and attains great size; prolific bearer; fruit Counties, 
ships well, and where it will mature no peach can 
fake its place ; does particularly well in the foot- 
hills."— P. W. Butler. 



( California).- 
Vaca Valley, 



-Grown for eastern ship- 
and in Sutter and Butte 




The California Nectarine 



202 



California Fruits 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE CALIFORNIA NECTARINE. 



THE nectarine reaches perfection under 
California conditions, as does its 
close relative, the peach. The fruit is, in 
fact, as Downing says, only a variety of the 
peach with a smooth skin ; only a distinct, 
accidental variety of the peach ; and this is 
rendered quite certain, since there are sev- 
eral well-known examples on record of both 
peaches and nectarines having been produced 
on the same branch. Nectarine pits usually 
produce nectarines again, but they occasion- 
ally produce peaches. Peach seeds occasion- 
ally produce nectarines ; the Boston variety 
originated from a peach stone.* All these 
facts which are recorded of the relation be- 
tween the peach and nectarine have been 
verified by California observation. 

The practice of growing nectarines is also 
exactly like that employed with the peach. 
It is propagated and pruned in the same 
ways, except that, as pointed out by Mr. 
Culbertson, the nectarine has more of a ten- 
dency to form short interior growths, and 
fruit buds are formed on the larger new 
growths, thus enabling the pruner to cut 
them back more closely, and yet have an 
abundance of fruit buds remain. The peach 
and nectarines are the same in natural ad- 
aptations and requirements, and in diseases, 
so that what has been given concerning the 
growth of the peach in this State has an apt 
application in the case of the nectarine. 

The success of the nectarine worked on 
almond stock, as lias been demonstrated by 
the experience of many, has led to the 
grafting over a good many unprofitable al- 
mond trees to nectarine, though this has not 
been done to the extent to which the French 
prune and some other plums have been 
worked on old almond stocks. 

CoMP.'\R.\Ti\T-: Production of N^^CT.\RINE 
AND Peach. — It mav be wondered, consider- 



*"DowninK\s Fruit and Fruit Tree= 



irg the similarity of the peach and the nec- 
tarine, why the former comes so near being 
our leading deciduous fruit and the latter is 
the least grown, but one, of all the temperate 
zone fruits, only the lowly quince being less 
in importance. The explanation is that the 
fruit buyer, both in California and at the 
East, prefers the peach, whether it be fresh, 
or canned, or dried, and some of those who 
have tried even a few acres of nectarines 
have found many occasions to wish the 
ground had been given to peaches.' How 
much of this preference is due to lack of 
knowledge of the nectarine, and how much 
to its somewhat difTerent flavor, it would 
be difficult to actually determine. 

It is true, however, that the nectarine is 
now advancing in popular favor. This has 
been prophesied for some years and seems 
now being slowly realized because of the 
wonderful excellence of the nectarine as 
grown in our interior valleys, and the passing 
beauty of the amber translucency of the dried 
nectarine, both when sun-dried and when 
produced by machine evaporators. The ex- 
cellence of the canned nectarine, has also 
figured in the anticipation! It is, however, 
qaestion.able how far this anticipation has 
been realized, for it is estimated that the 
amount of dried nectarines is less than two 
pqr cent, and of canned nectarines less than 
one-half of one per cent of the respective 
forms of peaches. Nor does the demand call 
for change in this proportion, for there is a 
slight advantage in the market value of the 
peach even in its great preoonderance of 
supply. Still, the price for dried nectarines 
has been better of late, but whether this 
is due to better appreciation or reduced 
production, is a question. It is true that 
during the last decade many nectarines have 
been rooted out to be replaced by peach 
trees, or have been grafted over into peaches. 
There are, however, some growers who are 



How to Grow Them 



203 



Varieties of the Nectarine 



confident that the nectarine will in the future 
rank much higher in the California fruit 
product. It would please growers and fruit 
driers and canners to popularize the nec- 
tarine, for its smooth skin makes it as easy 
to handle as an apricot, and the beauty of 
the product, which certainly exceeds that 
of the peach, and is rather more easily at- 
tained, is very gratifying to the producer. 

VARIETIES OF THE NECTARINE. 

Varieties of the nectarine, as of the peach, 
show different local adaptations, and are 
valued by growers accordingly. The vari- 
eties grown, are, however, comparatively 
few. The following have been found most 
satisfactory in California; the descriptions 
are somewhat condensed from Downing's 
treatise, modified to suit local growth, and 
arranged approximately in the order of the 
ripening of the varieties: 

Advance. — Large, round, green, marked with red 
and brown; flesh greenish white; rich and well fla- 
vored. The earliest to ripen. 

Lord Napier (English).— Large, pale crean: color 
with dark red cheek ; flesh white, melting, lender 
and juicy, separating freely from stone; lea/ glands 
reniform and flowers large. Especially commended 
as a heavy and regular bearer: pronounced best in 
flavor at Pomona li.xperiment Station. 

Doii'iiton (English).— Leaves with reniform 
glands ; flowers small : fruit large, roundish oval ; 
skin pale green, with deep violet red cheek: llesh 
pale green, slightly red at the stone, which is free, 
melting, rich, and very good. 

Early Ncivington (English). — Leaves serrated 
without glands; flowers large; fruit large, roundish 
ovate, a little enlarged on one side, and terminating 
with an acute, swollen point ; skin pale green, but 
nearly covered with bright red and coated with thin 
bloom ; flesh greenish white, but deeo red at stone, 
which adheres closely, juicy, sugary, rich, and ex- 
cellent. 

Hardzvicke (English). — Leaves with globose 
glands ; fruit very large, roundish, inclining to oval ; 
skin pale green, with deep violet red cheek; flesh 
pale green, slightly marked with red at the stone, 
melting, rich, and high-flavored ; freestone. This 
variety is a favorite in southern California ; de- 



scribed by the Southern California Nurserj'men's 
Association as being the only satisfactory bearer. 

5oj/oji.— Raised from a peach, stone by T. Lewis, 
of Boston; tree hardy and productive; leaves with 
globose glands ; flowers small ; fruit large and hand- 
some, roundish oval, bright yellow, with deep red 
cheek; flesh yellow to the stone (which is small and 
pointed), sweet, though not rich, with pleasant and 
peculiar flavor; freestone; a general favorite in 
California. 

Nnv White; syn. Large White.— h^awts with reni- 
form glands; flowers large; fruit rather large, .nearly 
round; skin white with occasionally slight tinge of 
red; flesh white, tender, very juicy, with rich, vin- 
ous flavor; stone small and free; commended wher- 
ever nectarines are grown in California, and more 
freely planted than all other nectarines combined. 

5/oHKiiV/?.— Originated in England from seed 
brought from Syria. Large, roundish oval, slightly 
heart-shaped at base; skin pale, greenish white, 
shaded into deep, rich violet in the sun; flesh white, 
tender, juicy, rich, sugary, and delicious. 

Humboldt. — Very large, bright orange yellow vig- 
orously marked with crimson, flesh orange, tender; 
juicy, and high flavored. Described as one of the 
best of the newer varieties. Ripens late. 

As the future for the nectarine seems to 
rest upon drying and canning of the fruit, 
the light-skinned, white or yellow-fleshed 
varieties without color at the stone, are most 
desirable. For drying there has been thus far 
a decided preference for freestone varieties, 
though possibly the present popularity of 
cling peaches for drying may extend to the 
clingstone nectarines. Much color, however, 
either in skin or flesh, will prevent the pro- 
duction of the beautiful translucent, amber 
hue of the dried nectarine, which is attractive 
to consumers. Color in the flesh is, of course, 
undesirable in canning, because of discolora- 
tion of the syrup. These facts have had 
much to do in fixing the popularity of the 
varieties named in the foregoing list. 

At present the largest orchards of nec- 
tarines are in interior valley locations, which 
are also fine peach counties and are per- 
fectly adapted fjoth to the growing of the 
fruit and to the open-air, sun-drying of it 



The Pear 



204 



California Fruits 



CHAPTER XXII. 



THE PEAR IN CALIFORNIA. 



THE oldest deciduous fruit trees in Cali- 
fornia are pear trees, as has already 
been stated in the account of fruits at the old 
missions, and some of the trees are still 
bearing, though it is a century and a third 
since their planting. Trees planted by pio- 
neers in the old mining districts have actually 
assumed semblance to adjacent oaks. Nota- 
ble instances are found in the Stillwater 
district of Shasta County and elsewhere. 
Near San Jose there is a tree over half a 
century old, with a trunk seven and a half 
feet around and yielding annually about fif- 
teen hundred pounds of fruit, some of which 
was exhibited at the Columbian Exposition. 

The pear withstands neglect and thrives 
in soils and situations which other fruit trees 
would rebel against. It defies drouth and 
excessive moisture, and patiently proceeds 
with its fruitage, even when the soil is 
trampled almost to rocky hardness by cattle, 
carrying its fruit and foliage aloft above their 
reach. And 3-et the pear repays care and 
good treatment, and receives them from Cali- 
fornia growers, for the pear has been one of 
our most profitable fruits. It is in demand 
for canning, for drying, and for distant 
shipment, and its long season and the slow 
ripening after picking allow deliberation in 
marketing, and admit of enjoying low rates 
for shipment by slow trains. One of the 
most striking demonstrations of the com- 
mercial suitability of the California pear 
is found in successful marketing in London. 
Solomons, who is called "London's greatest 
fruiterer," said in 1903 that California Bart- 
letts from Block of Santa Clara are the best 
in the world." Even after crossing the con- 
tinent they seemed to endure shipment across 
the Atlantic better than eastern pears. 

The pear has not the beauty of the peach, 
nor is its handling characterized by so much 
dash and spirit, but the production of favor- 
ite market varieties at a time when the mar- 
ket welcomes them, is about as well repaid as 



any effort of the California fruit grower. 
Some idea of the yield of thrifty trees in 
large numbers can be had from the report of 
100 acres of Bartletts on the Cone ranch 
near Red Blufif, which in 1904 yielded 900 
tons of fruit which sold at $30 per ton — a 
gross yield of $27,000 of which not more 
than $7,000 were required to pay for the 
year's care and harvesting, a net yield of 
$200 per acre. There are much higher fig- 
ures, of course, as the product of eight acres 
near Yuba City which yielded eighty tons 
in 1905, sold at $50 per ton -or a gross return 
of $500 per acre ; and 95 tons in 1906 at $36 
per ton or $427 per acre. There are higher 
returns than this and, unfortunately, many 
that are much lower. 

The most obvious marks of the California 
pear are size and beauty. The most con- 
spicuous example is the Bartlett, which is 
the pear of California, judged by its popu- 
larity, fresh, canned and dried. When well 
grown, its size is grand, and its delicate 
color, aroma, and richness unsurpassed. 
What extreme in point of size has been 
reached is not known to the writer, but he 
saw at the San Jose Horticultural Fair, of 
1886, thirteen Bartlett pears grown by A. 
E'lock, of Santa Clara, which weighed four- 
teen pounds, the heaviest of the group weigh- 
ing twenty-two and one-half ounces. Other 
pears have made standard sizes in Califor- 
nia far in advance of their records elsewhere. 
There was in 1870 a Pound pear sent from 
Sacramento to the late Marshall P. Wilder, 
president of the American Pomological So- 
ciety, which weighed four pounds nine 
ounces, and was reported by Colonel Wilder 
to be larger than anything previously re- 
corded in pear annals.* But California has 
recently done even better for a pear from 
near Marysville in 1904 is reported as nine 



*"Tiltou'.s Journal of Horticulture. March, 1871, p S7. An 
engraving of this fruit, natural size, was given in Pacific Rural 
Press, Nov. 8, 1873." 



How to Grow Them 



205 



Localities for the Pear 



inches high, sixteen inches around the base 
and five pounds in weight. Notes kept by 
the writer inchide five Vicar of Winkfields 
weighing four pounds eight ounces ; nine 
Easter Beurre weighing twenty-four 
and one-half pounds, the heaviest single 
specimen weighing two and three-fourths 
pounds ; thirty-five Beurre Clairgeau weigh- 
ing thirty-seven pounds, the heaviest 
one, nineteen ounces ; Seckel pears, nine and 
three-fourths inches in circumference — Down- 
ing's figures make the Seckel five and seven- 
eighths inches around. 

LOCALITIES FOR THE PEAR. 

The pear has a wider range than the apple 
in local adaptations. It does as well as the 
apple in the coast regions, if suitable vari- 
eties are grown ; it thrives far better than 
the apple in the interior valleys ; it rivals the 
apple in the ascent of the slope of the Sierra 
Nevada, and gains from the altitude, color 
and late keeping, as does the apple. By re- 
jecting a few naturally tender varieties, or 
by proper protection against the scab fungus 
(fusicladiitin dendriticum), in regions where 
its attacks are severe, one can grow pears al- 
most everywhere in California — providing pear 
blight can be held in check, as will be dis- 
cussed later. 

The choice of location is governed more by 
commercial considerations than by natural 
phenomena. The same facts which make the 
Bartlett the favorite variety with planters, also 
should regulate the choice of locality for 
growing it. These facts were expressed by 
the late C. W. Reed, of Sacramento, who was 
in his time one of the leading pear growers 
and shippers of the State, as follows : 

In the Sacramento Valley proper there is but one 
variety of pear that will justify extensive cultivation, 
viz., the Bartlett. While nearly all varieties may be 
grown successfully, and many varieties may be desir- 
able for home purposes, yet for profitable orchards 
we have to confine ourselves to this one variety, 
except in high altitudes, or localities where the fruit 
only matures very late. The reason for this will be bet- 
ter understood by the inexperienced if explained. The 
Bartlett pear having qualities that make it a 
universal favorite for shipping, canning, and for do- 
mestic market, no other variety is wanted while it is 
obtainable. With the difference in the time of its 
ripening in different localities that are adjacent, our 
markets are supplied with this variety about four 
months each season, viz., July, August, September, 
and October. While this pear is in the markets, any 
other variety to compete with it must sell at very low 
prices. It is not only the great demand the Bartlett 



pear has over the other varieties in the markets, 
but as a healthy grower and regular bearer it has no 
equal. [This was written before the introduction of 
the pear blight.] In higher altitudes, where pears 
will keep till the Bartlett has disappeared, other 
varieties may be quite profitable, although they can 
never be grown to any similar extent. 

Of course experienced pear growers, whose 
taste would soon cloy with a continuous diet 
of P.artletts, and who know fully the superior 
quality of other varieties which ripen soon 
after it, would dispute the position taken by 
Mr. Reed, but for present California taste 
and trade he is undoubtedly correct. As the 
canners and shippers and local consumers all 
call for Bartletts, and as they usually sell at 
the East for nearly twice the price of other 
varieties, the choice of location to secure a 
Bartlett, either very early or very late, is the 
part of wisdom, for either end of the season 
usually yields better prices than the middle. 
Some growers are even opening the Bartlett 
season by growing Clapp's Favorite, which 
sells well because it is taken for a Bartlett, 
and closing the season with the Winter Bart- 
lett, a local variety recently introduced. The 
earliest Bartletts come from the interior 
valley sometimes as early as the last week 
in June ; the next, from the valleys adjacent 
to the bay of San Francisco ; the next, from 
the higher foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada ; 
and the last, so far as present experience 
goes, although some coast and mountain 
situations are quite late, reach the market 
from the Vacaville district. It is an inter- 
esting fact that this district, which has long 
been famous for marketing the first early 
fruits, should also market very late ones. It 
is true, however, that early fruits hasten to 
maturity and late fruits are retarded. Late 
fruits push along until about midsummer, 
then stop growing for a inonth or two dur- 
ing the hottest weather, and afterwards pro- 
ceed on their course and finish up well. 
W. W. Smith, of Vaca Valley, has picked 
Bartletts as late as November 19, but that is 
unusually late. In years with heavy late 
spring rains the Bartlett ripens earlier in the 
A^aca Valley than in ordinary seasons, and 
when the fruit sells well in the East, the Bart- 
letts are gathered green and shipped all 
through the season, as their first growth 
usually makes them large enough for this 
purpose. 

Though the Bartlett is in wide favor, as 
stated, there is some pro'gress being made in 



Propagation and Planting 



206 



California Fruits: 



introducing other varieties, as will be stated 
in connection with the discussion of the 
adaptations of varieties. This substitution of 
other sorts is in part because the merit of 
others is being recognized, and in part be- 
cause in some regions some of them are 
healthier and more trustworthy bearers than 
the Bartlett. 

There is produced in some situations a 
"second crop" of Bartletts and of other vari- 





The Bartlett Pear. 



SOILS FOR THE PEAR. 

The pear, if it is not allowed to dry out 
entirely, will generally do well on shallow 
soil and over a tight, clay hard-pan, where 
most other fruits would be unsatisfactory or 
fail utterly. The trees will thrive in clay 
loams, and even in adobe, if properly culti- 
vated. In laying out fruit farms, which often 
include a variety of soils, even in compara- 
tively small area, the pears and plums (if 
on the right stock, as will be seen) should be 
set on the lower, moister, stiffer soil, and 
other fruits on the lighter, warmer, and 
better-drained portions. The pear, however, 
enjoys the better situation, though it will 
thrive on the poorer. The tree seems to 
attain its greater growth and heaviest bearing 
on the alluvial soils of the valleys and near 
the banks of rivers and streams. All pears 
will be later in maturing and have better 
keeping qualities if grown on a clay subsoil. 
Thus it appears that the pear will flourish 
whether the water is neai* or far from the 
surface. On wet land the apple is apt to die 
in a few years, or become worthless. On 
dry land the apple lives longer, but the fruit 
is small and tasteless. But the pear tree may 
bear good fruit, under the same conditions. 

It has been learned by experience that the 
pear will flourish on soil somewhat alkaline. 
At the University Agricultural Experiment 
Station at Tulare, this subject has been dem- 
onstrated in detail. It is shown that though 
the pear endures a certain amoimt of alkali 
its limit of endurance may be often exceeded 
and there is little warrant to select alkali 
soil for pears, unless it be to fill a space that 
would otherwise be vacant in the orchard. 
If it is not too alkaline the pears will thrive. 
If gypsum be used in planting, somewhat 
stronger alkali will be endured than otherwise. 



eties which is of account when pears are 
scarce and is sometimes dried with profit. 
For such fruit the bloom appears upon the 
tips of the shoots of the current season's 
growth. The fruit is sometimes coreless and 
has led to claims of "seedless pears." Bart- 
lett pears have actually been picked in the 
foothills above Peretz in Butte coiuity on 
February 25, 1905, and described as "fine, 
delicious and ripe." This fact must be re- 
garded as a token of local climatic salubrity 
and not of economic or pomological account. 



PROPAGATION AND PLANTING. 

' The use of dwarfing stock for the pear has 
been nearly abandoned in this State, though 
in early years the quince was largely used. 
The most prominent orchard on quince stock 
is that of A. Block, of Santa Clara, where 
may be seen dwarf trees originally planted 
eight feet apart in squares, but now wider 
spaced by removing part of the trees ; the 
remainder doing exceedingly well under lib- 
eral manuring and irrigation. It is quite 
possible that, at least for gardens, there may 



How to Grow Them 



207 



Distance in Planting 



be in the future more use made of dwarf 
trees, but for commercial orchards there 
appears no need of dwarfing. The common 
conclusion is that it is better to have fewer 
trees and larger ones, but since the pear 
blight became an issue in this State the 
Anglers quince has been advocated as a means 
of maintaining a sound root and keeping the 
warfare above ground. 

The following varieties are commended 
for cultivation on quince stock as dwarfs, 
experience proving them vigorous growers 
and abundant bearers in suitable localities : 
Bartlett, Beurre Hardy, Doyenne du Cornice, 
Duchess d'Angouleme, Glout Morceau, Pound, 
lleurre Diel. \\'hite Doyenne, Easter Beurre, 
Winter Nelis, P. Barry, Winter Bartlett. 

But the pear is usually grown in California 
on its own roots ; that is upon imported 
French pear seedlings. It comes into bearing 
early enough, and is a long-lived tree unless 
badly attacked by blight. Trees are grown 
b\' either budding or grafting, as described 
in the chapter on that subject. Only good seed- 
ling roots should be used, and not suckers 
from old trees. The Japanese stock, so called, 
being seedlings of the Sand pear, of Asia, has 
been used to some extent, but no definite 
results reported. Propagation upon rooted 
cuttings of the Le Conte. which has a meas- 
urable resistance to the pear blight, has been 
advised for the purpose of securing less 
susceptible roots. Mr. M. B. Waite, orchard 
pathologist of the United States Department 
of Agriculture, has in progress a test of many 
cross-bred seedlings in the hope of reaching 
a hardier seedlings stock for pears than is now 
known. He also proposes top grafting the 
liartlett upon Winter Nelis. Seckel. Angou- 
leme, Lawson and other partially immune 
varieties to increase the chances of securing 
a somewhat resistant tree-body and sound 
roots. Fortunately the pear is readily grafted- 
over b_\- the common methods. 

DisT.\NCE IN Pl.\ntinc,. — If the pears are 
to have the whole ground, it is usual to plant 
from twent\- to twenty-four feet apart on the 
square. As the tree is slower to attain size and 
full bearing than the .stone fruits, and as it is 
a long-lived tree, the pears are sometimes set 
twenty-four feet with plums in quincunx. 
Peaches and apricots are also set between 
pears sometimes, when the soil chosen for 
pears suits them also. 



PRUNING. 

Usually the pear is grown in the vase form, 
as described in the general chapter on prun- 
ing. With regular, upright growers, heading 
low and cutting to outside buds results in a 
handsome, gently-spreading top, and effectu- 
ally curbs the disposition which some vari- 
eties, notably the Bartlett, have to run straight 
up with main branches crowded together. 

As with other fruit trees, the pear must be 
studied and pruning must be done with an 
understanding of the habit of the variety 
under treatment. Irregular and wayward 
growers, which, in windy places, also have 
their rambling disposition promoted by pre- 
vailing winds, often give the grower much 
perplexity. The general rules of cutting to 
an outside bud to spread the tree, to an inside 
bud to raise and concentrate it, and to an 
outside bud one year and an inside bud the 
next, if a limb is desired to continue in a cer- 
tain course, are all helpful to the pruner. 
But with some pears, of which the Winter 
Nelis is a conspicuous example, it is ex- 
ceedingly hard to shape the tree by these 
general rules, and some growers abandon all 
rules, merely shortening in where too great 
extension is seen, or to facilitate cultivation, 
and trust to shaping the tree when it shall 
have finished its rampant growing period. 
It will be interesting to cite a few methods 
of California pear grow'ers : 

"The Winter Nelis pear is an uncouth grower. 
Let the trees alone until they have borne a good, 
heavy crop, and the hmbs come down and spread 
out nicely; this will occur in five or si.x years after 
setting. This will give you an idea what you want 
to do with the balance of the top that is not borne 
down with the fruit. My plan is to cut straggling 
branches, thin out so that the branches will not 
wind around each other, but don't cut the top, for 
you will find that the more you cut the more wood 
you get. and after the tree conies into full bearing 
is plenty of time to head back." — A. Cadwcll, Pcta- 
liiina. 

"Our orchard is not in a very windy place, but 
still it is windy enough to throw our Nelis trees 
out of form. To get any regularity of shape, we cut 
off every year all the shoots growing low down on 
the leeward side, shortening in what are left as 
occasion may require, to an inside bud. On the wind- 
ward side we rarely cut any branch out. but shorten 
in a little to an outside bud, frequently being obliged 
to cut back a strong shoot to a lateral which is 
growing outward." — Leonard Coatcs. Na/'a. 

"It is hard to get a misshapen Winter Nelis tree 
into shape. Let the grower take his shears and go 
around the tree and examine the difficulty until he is 
conversant with it, and then commence to prune, not 



Blight of the Pear 



208 



California Fruits 



too heavily though. Cut the Hmbs that lean too far 
'leewards back a little with an inside bud, and train 
all future limbs toward the weather side of the tree; 
.cut the limbs this year so that the coming buds will 
form limbs growing in the direction of the weather 
side of the tree. But use moderation and take your 
time for it. and don't cut too many big limbs off 
three-year-old trees — none, in fact, if it can be helped. 
In bringing limbs to proper place, I have found a 
piece of corn-stalk the required length for the in- 
tended place, inserted endwise between the limb and 
the body of the tree to be spread, to be a very good 
brace, easily made, and not likely to injure the tree." 
— T. E. Ozi'oi, Santa Cruz. 

These methods will suggest otliers by which 
one can bring the most irregular grower into 
shape. If the tree is cut at planting so as 
to form the head low, it may be safely left 
until bearing age for shaping. The tree 
naturally makes a viny growth of young 
wood, and the object of leaving it alone is 
that one limb holds the other more upright 
until the main limbs become large, or stif? 
enough to keep the shape : so they may be 
left, after being thinned out to form three 
to five limbs, as judgment may direct. Some 
trees will lie best with three or four, others 
five. 

The experience of pear pruning just cited 
has been secured in regions more or less sub- 
ject to coast influences. In the hot interior 
valleys, with the pear as with the apple, care 
inust be taken to prune so as not to open the 
tree too much to the sun, but to shorten in 
and thin out only so far as is consistent with 
maintaining a good covering of foliage. 

The pruning of bearing pear trees is much 
like that of the apple, to be detennined 
largely by the habit of the tree, and to se- 
cure a fair amount of fruit on branches with 
strength and stififness enough to sustain it. 

Summer pruning will promote fruiting 
either in a young or an old tree and some 
practice it to secure early bearing of young 
trees, but the common practice is winter 
pruning to secure strong wood and prevent 
overbearing. 

THINNING PEARS. 

It is quite important to attend to thinning 
the fruit on overloaded trees. Even the popu- 
lar Bartlett will often give fruit too small 
for profitable sale unless thinned. With 
pears, as other fruits, thinning should not 
be done until it is seen that the fruit is well 
set. Dropping off from natural causes some- 
times thins the crop quite enough. 



IRRIGATION OF THE PEAR. 

In some situations the pear needs irrigation, 
though it will endure drouth which would 
destroy most other fruit trees. There is no 
profit in small, tough fruit. As stated in the 
chapter on irrigation the wood growth and 
fruit show whether proper moisture needs 
are met or not. Early pears are advanced 
in development by irrigation in some parts of 
the State, and this is an important factor in 
their value. 

BLIGHT OF THE PEAR. 

Although California pear growers who 
came to the State endowed with eastern 
experience have always apprehended the intro- 
duction of the true pear blight and shivered 
every time they saw die-back or blackening 
on a pear branch, the probability is that all 
early reports of its entrance were misappre- 
hensions until the real scourge appeared in the 
San Joaquin valley about a decade ago. 
The rapidity with which trees began to be 
destroyed at that time manifested its habit 
in this State and warrants the conclusion 
that earlier troubles of the tree probably 
arose from other causes. In 1904, after 
having nearly wiped out bearing trees in the 
southern counties of the San Joaquin valley 
the disease began to devastate the orchards 
along the Sacramento river through the vast 
area of rich valley land which it traverses and 
on which is situated our most extensive pear 
acreage. In 1905 resolute warfare was made 
upon the blight, with a large appropriation of 
State funds, by the plant disease experts of 
the United States Department of Agriculture 
and of the California Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station, with the assistance of the local 
horticultural authorities. It was probably 
the greatest campaign ever made against a 
single tree disease although some insect war- 
fares have been greater. The outlines of the 
plans followed and the results attained are 
to be found in the publications of the insti- 
tutions engaged.* 

In a later chapter on Diseases of Trees and 
Vines, an outline of procedure against pear 
blight will be given. It is apprehended that 
neither paying crops nor living trees can be 



* Reports cf the California Commi.ssioners of Horticulture. 
1901 to 1906. including Reports on California Fruit Growers Con- 
ventions for 1905-6-7, J. W. Jeffrey. Commissioner, Sacramento. 
Report of Plant Pathologist, University Experiment station. 
Berkeley. 1906. 



How to Grow Them 



209 



To Ripen Pears 



counted upon in the future unless the disease 
is successfully kept under control by success- 
ful fighting or by recourse to some form of 
natural immunity which can be discovered 
or developed by plant breeding. It is prob- 
able that pears cannot be grown in the future 
as cheaply and profitably as in the past and 
there is a certain amount of bravery or daring 
in pear investments at the present 
time. It is encouraging, however, to note 
that in California the disease- shows signs of 
rela.xing the virulence which characterized 
its first attacks and it is reasonable to believe 
that here as elsewhere it may he possible to 
have the blight and pears also. The reader 
must keep himself continually informed of 
the various phases of the problem as they will 
arise, by careful study of our excellent Cali- 
fornia horticultural journals and of later 
publications from the official sources which 
have been indicated. 

The very exuberance of the pear in Califor- 
nia seems to increase the virulence of the 
blight. The long growing season with its 
continual production of new soft tissue, the 
unseasonable bloom which attracts bees to 
bring new supplies of blight germs, the 
break of new shoots from root, trunk and 
main branches — all these make the tree sub- 
ject to repeated renewals of the disease in its 
most vulnerable parts. How far growth can 
be repressed by scant cultivation or by sum- 
mer pruning ; how far suppression of later 
shoots and blooms is practicable and whether 
the tree can be depleted so that it can only 
make fair sized fruit and no surplus soft 
tissue for blight invasion — all these are cul- 
tural problems which make pear growing very 
interesting to the enquiring mind. A Sonoma 
grower suggests that pruning may be used 
to control pear blight in the following man- 
ner: It is the natural tendency of the pear 
and apple while young to form fruiting spurs 
upon the body and larger branches of the 
tree. These fruiting spurs produce blossoms 
from year to year, which are in turn as liable 
to be visited b.y bees or other insects carrying 
the destructive spores of the disease as are 
the blossoms at the ends of the branches. 
It is evident, therefore, that a blossom situated 
upon the body or larger branches of a tree, 
becoming infected, would communicate the 
disease directly to the framework of the tree, 
with the result that it would be fatally in- 
jured : but if these fruiting spurs are all 



removed from the body and larger branches 
by pruning, the possibilities of infection in 
this way are overcome. The available means 
of gaining entrance to the tree by this para- 
site is confined to the smaller branches, which 
if aflfected can be cut away without severely 
injuring or disfiguring the tree. All suckers 
at the base of the tree should be removed at 
the point where they emerge from the trunk 
or the roots. 

The scab fungus which seriously aflfects 
some varieties, and notably the Winter Nelis, 
in the Coast region, is identical with the 
scab of the apple and will be mentioned in the 
chapter on tree diseases. Because of the 
liability of the Winter Nelis, to this disease, 
and because of its irregular bearing in the 
coast region, there have been many trees 
grafted over into varieties better suited to 
coast conditions. The Beurre Clairgeau, be- 
cause of its health, prolific bearing, and ac- 
ceptability to shippers, was largely introduced 
in this way, but it has not sold as well as 
expected. Ordinary' top grafting succeeds 
admirably with the pear. Clapp's Favorite 
and other varieties have also been worked 
upon Winter Xelis but they are apt to be 
more susceptible to blight than Winter Nelis 
so this old practice is now of less value than 
formerly. 

GATHERING AND RIPENING OF 
PEARS. 

Many pear growers make the common mis- 
take of allowing the fruit to hang too long 
on the tree, instead of gathering and ripen- 
ing in a cool, dark place. Pears should be 
picked at the first indication of ripeness, the 
first sign being a tendency of the stem to 
part from the spur when the pear is gently 
raised up. This test applies especially to 
the Bartlett. Picking at this stage and lay- 
ing away in the dark ripens up the Bartlett 
well. When picked at this stage and sent 
overland by slow freight, they ripen en route 
and the boxes open well on the Eastern mar- 
kets. There are a few varieties which 
shrivel if ripened under cover, but the rule 
is a good one, and the grower will soon note 
the exceptions. Many desirable varieties 
have, no doubt, been pronounced poor and in- 
sipid because allowed to ripen on the tree. 

To ripen well, pears should be packed in 
tight boxes or inclosed in drawers. They 



Varieties Approved 



210 



California Fruits: 



do not do as well as apples on shelves open 
to circulation of air. As already stated, the 
oily-skinned apple endures exposure and 
maintains a smooth, ruddy cheek and sound 
heart in spite of wind, rain, and rough 
weather. The pear under similar conditions 
decays rapidly. 



is more conspicuous here than at the east. 
It has been individually noted, however, that 
the White Doyenne is a good fertilizer for 
the Bartlett. The Winter Nelis is the one 
of the pears commercially worth growing 
which is most apt to be fruitless, but thus 
far association with other varieties has not 



Pear varieties approved by California growers. 



Upper Central 

VARIETIES. coast coast 

valleys. valleys. 

Angouleme, Duchess'd , « 

Anjou «,, ^ 

Bartlelt ,« ** 

Bloodgood 

Bosc , ^ 

B S. Fox ^, , 

Brandywine * 

Clairgeau * « 

Clapp's Favorite <,» , 

Cornice *, *.„ 

Dana's Hovey ,* »« 

Dearborn ^< 

Diel , . 

Easter Beurre ^^ ,, 

Emile d'Heyst , * 

Flemish Beauty ^ « 

Glout Morceau ^^ *, 

Hardy, Beurre ,, 

Howell * , 

Kieffer 

Lawson 

Louise, Bonne de Jersey- j, „ 

Madeleine <, 

Onondaga , , 

P. Barry ^^ t* 

Seckel ^, ,, 

Souv. du Congres ^. ^ 

Vicar of Winkfield , , 

Wilder, Karly 

White Doyenne j, ^, 

Winter Bartlett „ , 

Winter Nelis ^ „^, 

* Indicates that the variety is approved in the region designated. 
** Most highly commended. 



Interior 
valley and 
foot-hill. 



POLLINATION OF PEARS. 

As very few varieties of pears are largely 
grown in California and as the Bartlett 
generally bears well when grown in large 
acreages by itself, the eastern claim that the 
Bartlett is self-sterile does not seem to be 
justified in California experience. Recent 
observations indicate that even at the east 
the Bartlett is self-fertile when conditions 
are favorable to setting of the fruit and self- 
sterile when they are otherwise. As con- 
ditions are usually favorable in California 
this may be the reason why its self-fertility 



been demonstrated to be a full remedy. For 
the assistance of those who desire to test 
pear pollination the following statement is 
made of the relative dates of bloom of a large 
number of varieties, based upon records kept 
in Tulare County : 



VARIETY. First bloom. Full bloom. 

Barry March 10 March 20 

Bartlet March 14 March 24 

Belle Lucrative March 14 March 26 

Beurr^ Clairgeau March 11 March 22 

Beurr^ d'.'^nianlis March 10 March 20 

Beurr6 d'Anjou March 16 March 24 



How to Grow Them 



211 



Varieties of the Pear 



VARIETY. First bloom. Full bloom. 

Beurr6 Diel March 20 March 30 

Beurr6 Giffartl March 16 March 26 

BeurrA Gristl'Hiver March 14 March 24 

Beurr^ Hardy March IS March 28 

Clapp's Favorite March 14 March 24 

Colonel Wilder March 14 March 24 

Counseiller de la Cour March 12 March 22 

Dearborn's Seedling March 16 March 28 

Doyenne d'Alencon March 18 March 28 

Doyenne d'Et^ March 18 March 28 

Doyenne du Cornice March 16 March 26 

Duchesse d'Angouleme March 12 March 20 

Easter Beurr6 March 14 March 20 

Flemish Beautv March 20 March 30 

Forelle ' March 2 March 10 

Frederick Clapp March 16 March 26 

Howell March 14 March 24 

Jaminette March 12 March 22 

Josephine deMalines March 12 March 22 

Keifer's Hybrid March 2 March 10 

Kennedy . ' March 14 March 24 

Lawrence March 12 March 22 

Lawson March 16 March 26 

Le Conte Feb. 28 March 2 

Louise Bonne de Jersey .... March 10 March 20 

Seckel March 14 March 24 

Sheldon March 18 March 28 

Souvenir du Congr^s March 20 March 29 

Swan's Orange March 14 March 24 

Vernon March 8 March 19 

White Doyenne March 14 March 24 

Winter Nelis March 12 March 20 



VARIETIES OF THE PEAR. 

Though large collections of famous Eastern 
and European pears have been brought to 
California, the peculiarity of the local mar- 
ket, and demand for canning and shipping 
has led to concentration upon very few sorts. 
The pears chiefly grown in California are 
the following, arranged approximately in 
the order of their ripening: 

Harvest; syn. Sugar Pear (American). — Small, 
roundish, pale yellow, brownish in sun, brown and 
green dots; flesh whitish, rather dry but sweet; tree 
upright, young wood olive yellow brown. 

Madeleine (French). — Medium, obovate pyriform, 
stalk long and slender, set on the side of a small 
swelling; pale yellowish green, rarely brownish blush; 
calyx small, in shallow, furrowed basin ; flesh white, 
juicy, delicate. 

Wilder Early (American). — Small to medium, yel- 
low with red cheek; sweet, and good. Recently in- 
troduced and profitable for local sale in San Diego 
County. Sliould not be confused with Col. Wilder, 
a California seedling which has gone out of use. 

Blondgood (New York). — Tree short, jointed, deep 
reddish brown wood; fruit medium turbinate, in- 
clining to obovate, thickening abruptly into stalk; 
yellow, sprinkled with russet dots ; caly.x strong, 
open, almost without depression ; stalk obliquely 
inserted, without depression, short, fleshy at its base ; 
flesh yellowish white, melting, sugary, aromatic; core 
small. 



Clapp's Favorite (Massachusetts). — Tree a strong 
grower ; young shoots dark reddish brown ; fruit 
large, slightly obtuse pyriform ; pale lemon yellow 
with brown dots; flesh fine, melting, juicy, with rich, 
sweet delicate, vinous flavor; resembles Bartlett, but 
lacks musky flavor. 

Dearborn's Seedling (Massachusetts). — Young 
shoots long, reddish brown ; under medium size ; 
roundish pyriform ; smooth, clear, light yellow, with 
few minute dots ; stalk slender set with very little 
depression ; calyx spreading in shallow basin ; flesh 
white, very juicy, melting, sprightly. 

Lazvson; syn. Comet (New York). — Medium to 
large, bright crimson on yellow ground ; flesh fine, 
rich and sweet. 

Souvenir du Congres (French). — Large to 
very large (exceeding Bartlett and Clapp's Favorite, 
to both of which it bears a strong resemblance) ; 
skin smooth, bright yellow when fully ripe, brilliant 
carmine in the sun ; flesh resembling Bartlett, but has 
not the musky flavor ; firm to the core ; tree a good 
grower, but somewhat subject to smut. 

Bartlett (English).— Tree a strong grower, early 
bearer, and healthy; fruit large, smooth, clear yellow, 
sometimes with delicate blush; stalk moderately long, 
stout and inserted in shallow cavity; calyx open; 
flesh white, fine grained, juicy, buttery, highly per- 
fumed (musky), vinous flavor. 

Beurre Hardy. — Large, long obovate, sometimes 
obscurely pyriform ; skin greenish with thin, brown 
russet; stalk an inch long; cavity small, uneven, 
oblique, basin shallow ; buttery, somewhat melting, 
rich, slightly subacid ; tree a strong grower. 

Flemish Beauty (Belgian). — Large, obovate, often 
obscurely tapering to the crown, very obtuse, sur- 
face slightly rough, with some reddish brown russet 
on pale yellow ground; flesh juicy, melting, and good 
if nicked early and ripened in the house. 

Seckel (Pennsylvania).— Rather small, regularly 
formed, obovate; brownish green, becoming dull yel- 
lowish brown, with russet red cheek; stalk slightly 
curved, and set in a trifling depression; cal>TC srnall 
and set in a very slight depression ; flesh whitish, 
butterv, very juicy and melting, with peculiarly rich, 
spicv flavor and aroma. 

Hourll (Connecticut). — Rather large, roundish 
pyriform, light waxen yellow, often with finely- 
shaded cheek thickly sprinkled with minute russet 
dots and some russet patches ; stalk medium, without 
cavity and sometimes lipped ; sometimes in small cav- 
ity; calyx open in large, uneven basin; flesh whitish, 
juicy, brisk, vinous. 

Duchess d' Angouleme (France). — Very large, ob- 
long obovate ; somewhat uneven, knobby surface ; 
dull greenish yellow, streaked and spotted with rus- 
set; stalk long, stout, bent, deeply set in irregular 
cavity; calyx set in somewhat knobby basin; flesh 
white, buttery, and juicy, with rich flavor. 

Louise Bonne of Jersey (France). — Large oblong 
pyriform. a little one-sided; glassy, pale green in 
shade, brownish red in the sun, numerous gray dots; 
stalk cur^-ed. rather obliquelv inserted, without de- 
pression, or with a fleshy, enlarged base; calyx open 
in a shallow uneven basin: flesh verv juicy, and melt- 
in?, rich, and excellent; vcn,' prolific. 

Beurre Diel (Belgium). — Large, varying from obo- 
vate to obtuse pyriform ; skin rather thick, lemon 
yellow, becoming orange yellow, marked with large 



Varieties of the Pear 



212 



California Fruits 



brown dots and marblings o{ russet ; stalk stout, 
curved in rather uneven cavity; calyx nearly closed, 
in slightly furrowed basin ; flesh yellowish white, a 
little coarse-grained near the core ; rich, sugary, 
buttery, delicious. 

While Doyenne; syn. rirgalicu (France). — Me- 
dium to large, regular, obovate ; smooth, clear pale 
yellow, sprinkled with small dots, sometimes red 
cheeked; stalk brown, little curved, in small round 
cavity; caly.x small, closed in shallow basin; flesh 
white, fine-grained, buttery, rich, and high flavored. 

Beurrc Bosc (Belgium). — Large pyriform, a little 
imeven, often tapering long and gradually into the 
stalk ; skin pretty smooth, dark yellow, dots and 
streaks of cinnamon russet, slightly red on one side; 
stalk long, rather slender, curved; calyx short, in 
shallow basin ; flesh white, melting, buttery, rich, 
with slightly perfumed flavor. 

Onondaga; syn. Szvan's Orange (Connecticut). — 
Large, obtuse, oval pyriform, neck very short and 
obtuse, body large and tapering to obtuse apex ; 
flesh melting, sprightly, vinous. A vigorous,' up- 
right grower, healthy; yellow shoots; sells well in 
distant markets. 

Beurrc Clairgcau (France). — Large, pyriform. but 
with unequal sides ; yellow, shaded with orange and 
crimson, thickly covered with russet dots, sometimes 
sprinkled with russet ; stalk short, stout and fleshy, 
inserted by a lip at an inclination almost without de- 
pression; when lip is absent, the cavity is uneven; 
calyx open; flesh yellowish, buttery, juicy, granular, 
sugary, perfumed, vinous. A popular variety for 
local and distant markets. 

Beurre d'Anjou (France). — Large, obtuse pyri- 
form ; stem short, thick, and fleshy, in a cavity, sur- 
rounded by russet ; calyx small, open in small cavity, 
russetted ; skin greenish, sprinkled with russet, some- 
times shaded with dull crimson, brown and crimson 
dots; flesh whitish, not very fine, melting, juicy, 
brisk, vinous flavor, perfumed ; tree a fair grower, 
but somewhat affected by fungus. 

Dana's Hovey; syn. Winter Seckel (Massachu- 
setts), — Small, obovate, obtuse pyriform ; greenish yel- 
low or pale yellow, with much russet and brown dots; 
stalk rather short ; a little curved, set in slight cav- 
ity, sometimes lipped ; calyx open and basin small ; 
flesh yellowish, juicy, melting, sweet, aromatic. 

Vicar of ll'inkficld (France). — Large and long py- 
riform ; pale yellow, fair and smooth, sometimes with 
brownish cheek and marked with small brown dots ; 
stalk slender, obliquely inserted without depression ; 
calyx large, open, set in a basin very slightly sunk; 
flesh greenish yellow, juicy, with good sprightly 
flavor. 

Doyenne du Coniice (France). — Large, varying, 
roundish pyriform, or broad, obtuse pyriform ; green- 
ish yellow becoming fine yellow, shaded with crimson, 
slightly marked with russet spots, and thickly 
sprinkled with russet dots : stalk short, stout, in- 
clined and set in shallow cavity, often russeted ; calyx 
small, open ; basin large, deep, and uneven ; flesh 
white, fine, melting, aromatic. Very profitable dur- 
ing last few years in eastern shipments. 

Gloiit Morceau (Flemish). — "Rather large, varying 
in form, but usually short pyriform. approaching ob- 
tuse oval; neck very short and obtuse; bodv \?v::'c 



and tapering towards crown ; often considerably rib- 
bed ; green, becoming pale greenish yellow; stalk 
stout, moderately sunk; calyx large; basin distinct, 
rather irregular ; flesh white, fine-grained, buttery, 
melting, rich, sweet, and fine flavor," — /, /. Thomas. 

Block's Acme (California seedling, by A. Block, 
of Santa Clara). — Large and very handsome, surpass- 
ing Beurre Clairgeati in size and color; regularly 
formed, pyriform, skin pale yellow, covered with 
russet all over, which becomes a fine glowing red on 
the side exposed to the sun ; flesh white, crisp, and 
melting, juicy, sweet, and slightly musky; a pear 
that will rank foremost with our best shipping pears; 
reserved by originator for his own export trade. 

Winter Nclis (Belgium). — Medium, roundish, obo- 
vate, narrowed in near the stalk ; yellowish green, 
dotted with gray russet and a good deal covered 
with russet ; stalk rather long, bent, and set in nar- 
row cavity; calyx open in shallow basin; flesh yel- 
lowish, white, fine grained, buttery, very melting, and 
full of rich, sweet, aromatic juice. 

P. Barry (California seedling by B. S. Fox.) — 
Fruit large, elongated pyriform, a little obtuse; skin 
deep yellow, nearly covered with a rich golden russet ; 
stalk of medium length and thickness, set rather 
obliquely on a medium cavity, sometimes by a lip; 
flesh whitish, fine, juicy, melting, sweet, slightly vin- 
ous, and rich. "An early and prolific bearer. De- 
cember to January." — California Nursery Co. The 
pear, P. Barry, is recommended for planting, by the 
Southern California Nurserymen's Association. It 
is. to some extent, displacing the Winter Nelis as a 
more healthy tree and a more certain bearer. 

Eastor Beurre (France). — Large, roundish, obovate 
obtuse, often rather square in figure; yellowish green, 
sprinkled with many russet dots and some russet 
patches ; stalk rather short, stout, set in an abruptly 
sunken, obtuse cavity; calyx small, closed, but little 
sunk among plaited folds of angular basin ; flesh 
white, fine-grained, very buttery, melting, and juicy, 
sweet, rich flavor ; was successfully shipped from 
California to England as early as 1872. 

Pound. — Large, pyriform; yellowish-green with 
red cheek, esteemed for cooking; reaches enormous 
size in this State as already noted. 

Kieffer and Le Conte. — These pears, recently in- 
troduced as especially hardy varieties, are grown to 
a limited extent in all parts of the State, but are 
usually condemned as inferior to the Eu'-opeaii va- 
rieties which attain such excellence in this State. 

Crocker's Bartlctt (California). — Chance seedling 
on place of L. L. Crocker. Loomis, Placer County. 
Introduced by Mr. Crocker in 1902. Described in 
year book, iqo5. of U. S. Department of Agriculture ; 
medium to large, oblong, obovate, pyriform; rich 
golden yellow, somewhat russety; quality very good; 
keeps until March. Claimed to be blight-free and 
regularly productive. 

IVinter Bartlett (Oregon). — Chance seedling m 
a dooryard in Eugene. Oregon. Introduced Dy Ceo. 
C. Roeding of Fresno. Closely resembles Bartlett in 
shape and appearance and flavor but a little coarser ; 
ripens four months later than Bartlett in interior 
situations in California and promising as a winter 
pear. 



How to Grow Them 



213 



Localities for the Plum 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
PLUMS AND PRUNES.* 



THE plums of California are exceptionally 
fine in appearance and of high quality. 
Both tree and fruit have thus far escaped the 
parasites which have wrought greatest in- 
jur\f on the eastern side of the continent. 
The curculio has never been found here, and 
the "black knot,'' though detected in some 
of the indigenous species of the genus 
pni)iiis,f has never been observed in our or- 
chards. The tree sufifers, it is true, as do 
most other fruit trees, from various pests 
and diseases but their work is a light afflic- 
tion compared with the ravages of the cur- 
culio and black knot which Eastern phnn 
growers have to contend against. Including 
the large planting of the last few years, the 
plum stands first in point of number among 
the fruit trees of California, but, as noted in 
Chapter XX, the peach is a very close second. 
Of the plums, at least four-fifths are those 
varieties designated as prunes. This is, of 
course, owing to the profitable shipping de- 
mand for our prune product, while ordinary 
dried, pitted plums are expensive in produc- 
tion and do not always command good prices. 
There is, however, a large trade at the East 
in our fine plums in a fresh state. Some 
varieties stand shipment well, and are large, 
handsome and in some cases possessed of 
unique characters, resulting from Mr. Rur- 
bank's work with the Japanese species as 
will be noted later. Considerable shipments 
of fresh plums have been made from Cali- 
fornia to England. The maximum in plum 
profits is much like that with other fruits, 
for L. W. Leak, a Placer County grower, re- 
ported in igo6 a net return of $759 from an 
acre of "Hungarian prunes." 



* All prunes are pliinis, but aU plums are not prunes. A 
prune is a plum which can be dried without the removal of the 
pit without fermenting: the result beintr a fieshy pulp with a 
high degree of sweetness. All plums which will not do this are 
not prunes, even thouch the word may appear in their California 
common names. 

t Foim'l on pranus i^c.mi-sa, in Yosemite valley and in Coast 
ranee in Sm Mateo County, bv Dr. H W. Harknes. Report 
State Board of Horticulture. 1S.S3. pp. 54. 5S. 



By choosing varieties ripening in succes- 
sion, the plum season extends from May to 
December, thus enabling the California plum 
grower to strike the Eastern markets both 
early and late. It is on record, also, that 
second crop plums have ripened. In 1904 
Judge Leib, of San Jose, sent to Luther Bur- 
bank, on December i, ripe fruit from a tree 
which ripened its first crop on July 4 of the 
same year. 

There is also a considerable demand for 
plums by the canners who do not use, how- 
ever, the varieties in chief demand for ship- 
ping. 

LOCALITIES FOR THE PLUM. 
The plum has an exceedingly wide range 
in California. The trees are thrifty and prof- 
itable even from the immediate vicinity of the 
coast, and in coast valleys, where the sea 
winds and fogs intrude, eastward across the 
great interior valleys, and upwards upon the 
sides of the Sierra Nevada. In the upper 
half of the State, at least, wherever there 
is sufficient moisture in the soil, good plums 
can be grown. The tree is quite hardy, but 
in situations open to sweep of the winds 
there has been found to be decided advan- 
tage in belts of sheltering trees for protec- 
tion. At some points subject to direct coast 
influences, there is sometimes loss by crack- 
ing of the fruit. It is seldom encountered 
in the interior valley, except near the rivers 
or in draws where the damp coast air makes its 
way through. It seems to be worst where 
there are marked diflferences in atmospheric 
humidity within short periods of time. Where 
the percentage is quite uniformly high or low 
there seems to be less trouble. Some years 
conditions usually restricted to more exposed 
coast situations prevail in the interior valley, 
and the result is unusual prevalence of mil- 
dew and other moist fungi and cracking of 
frrit also, though thev have no relation to 



Stocks and Soils 



2i4 



California Fruits : 



each other except that the same conditions 
favor both. Only certain varieties are thus 
affected, and they can be avoided where the 
trouble is found to exist. 

It was for a long time held that southern 
California was not adapted to the growth of 
the plum, but the experience of the last few 
years has shown that the conclusion was too 
broad. The "French prune" demonstrated its 
success adjacent to the coast in Santa Bar- 
bara County, and elsewhere, in the low, rich 
lands of the Santa Ana Valley, of Orange 
County, in the interior at various points on 
the rim of the San Gabriel Valley, in Los 
Angeles County, notably at Pomona, and still 
farther inland in the San Bernardino Valley, 
but the Southern California prune product 
is small because the land and water can 
be more profitably used for other fruits. 
There is, however, difficulty in some dry 
uplands where the tree is shy in fruiting and 
subject to serious giunming; but this is en- 
countered locally in all parts of the State. 
Irrigation does not. always overcome these 
troubles, and yet, no doubt, the arrangement 
of proper moisture conditions is important. 
The tree should be helped to make one good 
growth and to ripen its wood in the fall. 
To have growth checked by drouth and a 
second start made later in the season is not 
desirable. 

Still it must he admitted that prune plant- 
ing in the interior, proceeding with such ra- 
pidity, has encountered some soils and situ- 
ations in which bearing has not been alto- 
gether satisfactory. New planters should 
confer with older residents before making 
investments in prune planting in interior val- 
leys and foot-hills. 

All the foregoing observations are based 
upon the behavior of plums of European 
origin ; descendants of the primus domestica. 
One of the grandest contributions to the 
extension of the range of the plum in Cali- 
fornia was the introduction of the Asiatic 
species, primus triflora and simoni. Varieties 
of these species directly introduced or locally 
developed by Burbank and others, have 
proved productive in places where the domes- 
tica varieties were abandoned as shy or 
sterile. To estimate the value of these vari- 
eties one has only to visit the home fruit gar- 
dens of southern California or inspect the fruit 
stands of Los Angeles which are continuous 
exhibits of fine specimens of these varieties 



in their seasons. Even in places where the 
domestica varieties are largely grown the Asi- 
atic varieties are also prominent as is shown 
by the fact that the Wickson, a Burbank tri- 
flora-simoni hybrid, is the leading shipping 
plum of California, and shipping plums are 
chiefly grown in the central and northern 
regions of the State. Other notable Burbank 
plums of recent introduction will be included 
in the descriptions of varieties at the close of 
this chapter. 

SOILS AND STOCKS FOR THE PLUM. 

With the plum, as with the apricot, the 
subjects of soils and stocks are intimately 
related, but the whole matter has been won- 
derfully simplified by the experience of the 
last few years. This relief has come through 
the adoption of the myrobalan, or cherry 
plum {Prunus niyrobalana) as a general all- 
around stock for plums and prunes. Before 
this practice was taken up the effort to grow 
the plum on its own roots generally resulted 
in getting an orchard full of suckers, and to 
avoid this, plums were worked on peach roots 
wherever this root would succeed in the soil 
to be planted. But some varieties of plums 
do not take kindly to the peach, and then 
"double working" (putting first on the peach 
a plum which is known to take well and then 
on that plum wood the variety desired) was 
followed. The use of the myrobalan does 
away with the suckering nuisance and the 
need of double working. 

There was considerable discussion a few 
years ago as to what is the true myrobalan, 
and it must be acknowledged that some of 
the refined distinctions formerly claimed have 
been abandoned. Seedlings grown from the 
seed of the myrobalan vary as do other fruit 
seedlings, both in fruit and in foliage and 
habit of trees, and perhaps this fact has 
given rise to the distinction between "true" 
and "false" myrobalan, so called. Practice 
has proceeded without much reference to the 
discussion, and our nurserymen now have 
large, thrifty myrobalan trees from which 
they secure their seed supply. Growing stock 
from myrobalan cuttings is but little practiced. 
The myrobalan is now the accepted plum 
stock for California, except in light, alluvial, 
well drained soils, where, for the French 
prune, peach or almond may be preferred. 
Thoueh described bv some authorities as a 



How to Grow Them 



215 



Pruning: the French Prune 



dwarfing stock, it is found to be sufficiently 
free growing in California to suit all purposes, 
and to form a good foundation for full stan- 
dard trees, though the peach and almond 
roots in proper soils give a quicker and 
greater growth. Experience has shown that 
the myrobalan root thrives in this State both 
in low, moist, valley lands, in comparatively 
dry lands, and in stiff upland soils. 

In some soils especially adapted to the 
peach, peach roots are preferred as stock for 
the French prune, but, as already said, all 
plums can not be worked directly on the 
peach root, the Robe de Sergeant, Columbia, 
Yellow Egg, Washington, and Sugar Prune 
for example. Sometimes the bud or scion 
may make a large growth, but the two 
woods do not unite, and the trees break off 
sooner or later. 

Some work the plum on the apricot root, 
and report success when the soil suits the 
apricot root, and the gophers do not get 
at it. But it sometimes happens that the 
French prune parts from the apricot root 
even after growing some time upon it. There 
are, however, instances of the French prune 
thriving, and, apparently making good union 
with the apricot root and some of the softer 
wood varieties, like the Sugar Prune, take 
kindly to it. 

Some plums do well on the almond root 
and some do not. The French prune suc- 
ceeds admirably both when worked on young 
almond stocks and top grafted in old almond 
trees. Success is also reported with the 
Fellenberg on the almond. But the almond 
root is suited especially for warm, dry soils. 
Excellent results from the use of almond 
stock are reported from the interior valley 
and the Sierra foot-hills. 

Propagating by Sprouts.^ — The French 
practice of growing certain varieties of the 
plum by means of sprouts from the base 
of old trees has been successfully followed 
in this State by Felix Gillet, of Nevada City, 
and was strongh' commended by hiru as 
securing a tree which will not gum, which 
is one of the reasons why the same practice 
prevails in France. Sprouts growing at the 
foot of old and large trees, and but few are 
found to each tree, are taken off and planted 
close top- ther in a bed to make them root 
well, and the ensuing spring planted in 
nurserv rows, where thev are trained like 



any other trees, and transplanted where to 
remain, when branched. For this method it 
is necessary that the parent tree should be 
upon its own roots, else one is apt to get 
suckers from a wild stock. Sprout-grown 
trees cannot however be defended unless 
some special point like that claimed by Mr. 
Gillet can be attained by them. 

PLANTING AND PRUNING. 

As with other trees, there is difference of 
opinion as to the best distance apart for 
plum trees. The present tendency is toward 
wider planting; not nearer than twenty feet 
is the usual advice, and on rich land, twenty- 
two or twenty-four feet is better. 

The plum, in California, is a most rapid 
grower; six to ten feet from the bud or graft 
in a season, and about as much after the 
first winter's cutting back, is not at all un- 
usual. At this rate of progress, then, the 
tree soon runs up and away, in a spindling, 
sprawling fashion, unless severely cut back 
for the first few years. Neglected trees of 
some varieties show long, streaming branches, 
arching outward, and exposing the bark to 
sunburn (to which it is very sensitive), 
breaking the tree to pieces as the fruit gets 
weight, and, even if supported by props, 
breaking off at the bearing of the prop. 
This condition of the tree can only be obvi- 
ated by low heading and moderate cutting 
back each year, with due regard to limiting 
the amount of bearing wood to get large 
fruit. For such plum varieties the sugges- 
tions on forming the tree and subsequent 
treatment in the chapter on pruning will be 
found helpful. This reference to repressive 
treatment for brittle-wood plums is empha- 
sized by experience with the Sugar Prune 
of which Mr. Leonard Coates of Morgan Hill 
says : 

"The sugar prune is a great hearer, but the tree 
must receive verj- diflferent pruning from the given 
the French prune. The annual growth must be 
shortened in every winter from one-half to two- 
thirds, and all laterals and fruit spurs must be cut 
back at every pruning. Of course, judicious thin- 
ning out of wood also needed. This will result in a 
very large, showy product for long-distance ship- 
ments, as fresh fruits, which have brought satis- 
factory returns." 

Pruning the French Prune. — Growers 
of the French prune, and other varieties of 
similar growth of strong and pliable wood, 



Cutting back Young Trees 



216 



California Fruits : 



have reached substantial agreement as to the 
best practice. The old method of cutting 
back bearing trees has been abandoned. 
Cutting back the young tree to secure suffi- 
cient low branching is followed by thinning of 
shoots from this low head so that the 
tree shall not become too dense or carry too 
much bearing wood. The strength in the 
head depends upon proper spacing and ar- 
rangement of the branches as insisted uiion 



branch from the top bud for a lengthening 
of the stem, and bring out more branches 
upon that the second year, and then dispense 
with its farther extention. The engravings on 
page 218 , show this method of developing 
the head of a young French prune. The tree 
was cut back at planting in orchard to a 
straight switch about eighteen inches high. 
At the end of the first summer this showed 
the form in the first picture, which is marked 




Young and old French Prune trees, never pruned and assuming natural form. 



in the chapter on pruning; and large, well- 
ripened fruit, which is essential to successful 
and profitable drying, is conditioned upon 
avoiding excess of branches and admission of 
sufficient light to the tree. 

A rather longer central stem is retained 
than in the old style, and a central stem 
throughout is admissible if one prefers it and 
does not desire to dispense with it as the first 
step toward securing a more open tree. 
Some retain the longer stem at planting : 
others cut back to eighteen inches, develop 
three side branches upon that and train the 



for the first winter priming. The second 
engraving shows the branching developed 
from this during the second summer's growth, 
also marked to. prune away some undesirable 
branches. Upon a tree of this form farther 
cutting back is not desirable as it has enough 
well-placed branches to form the tree. 

How long cutting back shall continue 
depends partly upon the locality and partly 
upon the notion of the owner. In interior 
localities the tree grows with great rapidity 
and branches more freely. During the third 
summer it will bear some fruit if not cut 



How to Grow Them 



21: 



Grafting- the Plum 



back the previous winter and, where growth 
is so rapid, there is httle danger of injuring 
the tree by early bearing. In the coast 
valleys cutting back may continue another 
year, and fruiting be thus postponed a year 
to get another summer's freer wood growth. 
Though cutting back may properly cease 
early with the French prune, it is a great 
mistake to allow the trees to go unpruned. 



When to apply a rule or make an exception 
must be learned by observation and experi- 
ence. Some plums, like the Silver prune, 
have something of the growth habit of the 
peach, and this is also very true of some of 
the Japanese varieties. Cutting back in winter 
and pinching in summer are both useful facts 
in securing low'er branching and low-grow'ing 
fruit spurs. 










Young and old French Prune trees rationally pruned for number and spacing of branches. 



Removal of defective wood, prevention of 
branch crowding and overbearing are of the 
highest importance, as insisted upon in the 
chapter on pruning. 

SpEci.\l Study of \'.\rieties in Pkuning. 
— The points just advanced apply especially 
to the management of the French prune. 
In addition to what has been already said 
about the Sugar prune, the grower must be 
exhorted to study the habit of the variety 
he has to deal with. The general rules for 
handling trees with different habits of growth 
are applicable to a certain extent to the plum. 



Gk.m'Ting the 1'llm. — The plum has been 
grafted and regrafted in the constant effort to 
secure varieties promising superiority in vari- 
ous directions. Within the scope of their 
affinities plums graft easily by common top- 
grafting methods, and if the roots are strong 
the new growth is so rapid as to need special 
attention. Mr. Luther Bowers gives these 
hints about pruning such growths : "From 
practical experience I have found out that the 
Sugar prune wood should only be summer 
pruned and only cut while the shoots are 
tender, or so soft that the top can be pinched 



The Plumcot 



218 



California Fruits 



Pruning after first summer's growth in orchard. 



out; this will cause the top to be well After a graft is two years old I would never 
branched and this should be done at least cut the top off of a limb. If a tree gets 

too thick a top, I would cut out some of the 

main branches." 

THE PLUMCOTS. 

One of the most striking achievements of 
Mr. Burbank from the fruit grower's point 
of view is the cross of the plum and the 
apricot, which he has very fitly named the 
"plumcot.'' He has combined in a single 
fruit enough of the diverse characters of two 
fruits so that the ordinary observer can 
recognize the combination clearly and dis- 
tinguish the gift of each to it. Mr. Burbank 
has secured several such crosses, the first of 
which to be made public is the "Rutland," 
introduced by Mr. George C. Roeding in 1907. 
The fruit is about the size of an ordinary 
apricot with a deep purple velvety skin. One 
of its striking features is its brilliant red 
flesh possessed of a strong sub-acid flavor ren- 
dering it suitable for cooking, jellies and jams. 
When fully ripe, it is an excellent dessert 
fruit possessing an apricot-plum flavor. Ob- 
viously the amalgamation of the apricot and 
the plum must produce a fruit unique in 
character, hence its economic value is a 
matter still largely to be determined by its 
development and the exploitation of its uses. 

HOW A PRUNE QUEST DISTURBED 

THE PLUM FAMILY IN 

CALIFORNIA. 

Referring to the distinction between plums 
and prunes cited at the opening of this chap- 
ter, and to the extent and methods of the 
great prune industry of the State which will 
appear later, in Part Eight of this work, it 
may be stated here that the California prune 
product was obviously undertaken in emula- 
tion of the globe-trotting French prune, which 
had attained position as the leading com- 
mercial dried fruit of the world long before 
California arose in the horticultural horizon. 
Naturally, French settlers in California be- 
thought themselves of transplanting this great 
industry to their new home, and Mr. Louis 
Pellier introduced scions from the district of 
Agen to his place near San Jose in 1856. 
The product was good, and planting for a 
large output was entered upon, though slowly 
at first. There was disappointment over the 




Growth during second summer in orchard. 

twice during the first year of the graft. 
This system will avoid long, slender limbs. 



How to Grow Them 



219 



A Prune Quest 



fact that, while all fruits came surprisingly 
large in California, the dried prunes were 
smaller than the great French prunes in car- 
tons and cannisters which sold for great 
prices. Had we secured the true French 
prune: did they not have larger ones which 
thev were holding back from us? This was 



mispronunciation at the same time, for a 
prune which seemed to be too small and 
inferior. The dear people must have some- 
thing large, and they happened to mix a little 
German into the title which they manufac- 
tured, and offered trees of the "gros prune 
d'Agen." When shown that if the French 




The Plumcot. 



the great question of five decades ago. Some 
nurserymen of that day had spirits of enter- 
prise larger than their consciences. If the 
people demand larger prunes they must have 
them, surely. Because of the small average 
size of the prunes of Pellier's introduction, 
they christened that variety "petite prune 
d'Agen," which was subsequently corrupted 
into "petty prune" — a free translation and a 



had such a fruit it would probably be called 
"grande" and not "gros," because the French 
word "gros" is not a complimentary term, 
the propagators simply changed their geo- 
graphical base and declared : "This immense 
prune, just what you need to beat the French, 
is really German, and if you desire you may 
call it Hungarian prune." It of course did 
not matter much what it was called, because 



Large Sizes 



220 



California Fruits ; 



it did not come from either France or Hun- 
g;ary, but was the fine, old, large, light red, 
English plum, properly called Pond's Seed- 
ling, re-christened in California to meet a 
long-felt want. But it did not meet such a 
want ; it would not dry sweet nor fleshy, 
but became merely a skin and pit, with a 



the main, standard variety of French prune 
was concerned. 

But still we needed a variety which would 
run more to large sizes, and how to get it, 
with sweetness and flesh, characters which 
would resemble the best French product, was, 
and even now is, still a question. One of 




The Santa Rosa Plum 



sour streak between. Still the question per- 
sisted : Have we the true French prune ? 
It was definitely settled by the late W. B. 
West of Stockton, who visited France in 1878, 
and after close examination of the trees, 
announced that the variety grown in Califor- 
nia was really the prune d'Agen, and that 
we had made no mistake so far as srettina: 



the early introductions to meet this end is 
now generally known as Robe de Sergeant. 
Here again confusion attends the name. 
Robe de Sergeant is one of the synonyms 
of prune d'Agen, and yet the fruit we se- 
cured was different. Much discussion was 
given to the elucidation of this problem, and 
the conclusion seemed to be that the variety 



How to Grow Them 



221 



Pollination of Plums 



is grown in France, but in another district, 
and is generally considered inferior to the 
prune d'Agen. Still it runs larger, and has 
sold well, even though of distinctly different 
quality, and would probably have cut a much 
larger figure in California prune production 
if it had shown itself to be more free and 
regular in bearing. The same is true of the 
"prune d'ente, or Imperial epineuse," which 
has been quite widely planted, but because of 
shy bearing, especially when attacked by the 
thrips, as discussed upon another page of 
this book, and because of the difificulty 
in drying such a large prune which ripens 
rather late, this variety, of which so much 
was expected, has fallen into disfavor, and 
many which were grafted in have been graf- 
ted out again. Other introductions made 
much earlier, like the German and Italian, 
also fell out of the race very early, for shy 
bearing and for different flesh characters. 
Although the latter leads in Oregon and other 
States north of us, it is out of California 
calculations. The conclusion of the whole 
matter now is that we have never secured 
from abroad a better than the one which 
came 50 years ago — the true prune d'Agen. 
We have learned to grow it better, to seek 
places where it comes larger and in full quali- 
ty : to use irrigation when it is needed by the 
tree to do its best ; to guard against over- 
bearing by reducing the amount of bearing 
wood and excessive branching ; to strengthen 
the soil by fertilization, and to grade the fruit 
into sizes which commend themselves to dif- 
ferent demands. Here we are again, doing 
our main business at the old stand, but know- 
ing how to do it better. Have we anything 
more to e.xpect? Probably nothing from old 
varieties, for we have prospected them all 
from a prune-making point of view, taking 
Coe's Golden Drop plum, or its seedling, for 
the Silver Prune, and cancelling all others as 
possibly good plums for various uses, but not 
for prunes. 

Probably our only expectation lies along 
the line of plant breeding, although nothing 
to supplant the prune d'.\gen has yet been 
attained. The Giant prune is a large red 
plum ; several Oregon prunes are simply large 
red plums. The standard of sugar in the 
prune d'Agen as grown in California is from 
15 to 23 per cent of sugar in the fresh juice, 
according to degree of ripeness and localities 
in which the fruit is grown. The sugar in 



Pond's Seedling and in the large red plums 
just named is less than 10 per cent — some- 
times very much less. But percentage of 
sugar in the juice is not the whole story; 
there are tissue or flesh characters which are 
essential also. Air. Burbank's Sugar prune 
answers the sugar requirement ; it is a free 
bearer and early ripening variety, and it dries 
easily though large ; but it has not the fine 
grain nor the distinctive flavor of the prune 
d'Agen, and it becomes a good plum for ship- 
ping and possibly for other plum purposes. 
But Mr. Burbank has many of the plum fam- 




The Wickson Plum. 

ily in training, and it would not be surpris- 
ing if he should announce at any time a 
variety educated fully up to the very defi- 
nite California requirements, which he fully 
understands. Others are also working at the 
problem, and the next generation of Cali- 
fornia prune growers may attain what the 
last and present have striven for. 

POLLINATION OF PLUMS. 

The shy bearing of certain plums is prob- 
ably due to lack of pollination, either through 
the self-sterility of the variety or lack of ac- 
ceptable pollinating agencies. Bearing can 
be induced in many cases, no doubt, by either 
planting or grafting-in of effective pollinat- 
ing varieties. But this is not always profit- 
able. For instance, there are many instances 
proving that the Tragedy can be brought to 
greater bearing by the presence of Clyman. 
but an early variety like the Clyman is not 
worth growing for sale in a late district. 



Upper 


Central 


Interior 


Mountain 


coast 


coast 


valley and 


valleys and 


valleys. 


valleys 


foothills 


plateau 



Approved Varieties 222 • California Fruits : 

though in an early district both are valuable quality; lacks flavor and cracks badly near the coast. 

as shippinc: plums and should be planted to- Climax (Burbank.)— Large; very early; heart- 

gether. The pollination of plums has not shaped; deep red; flesh yellow. Popular for ship- 

P . 1 ii i- r .tu pins in places where it does not crack badly. 

been given as much attention as of other ciyman (California seedling introduced by Leon- 

fruits. ard Coates). — Large, roundish oblong, flattened; su- 

Pluins and Prunes approved by California growers 

VARIETIES 

Abundance 

Agen, Prune d' 

B I adshaw 

Burbank 

Chabot 

Climax 

Ciyman 

Coe's Late Red 

Columbia 

Damson 

Diamond 

Duane Purple 

German Prune 

Giant 

Golden Drop, Coe's 

Golden Prune 

Grand Duke 

Green Gage 

Hale 

Imperial Epineuse 

Imperial Gage 

Italian Prune 

Jefferson 

Kelsey 

Peach 

Pond (Hungarian) 

Red June 

Robe de Sergeant 

Royal Hative 

Satsuma 

Silver 

Simon 

Sugar 

Tragedy 

Washington 

Wickson 

Yellow Egg 



* Indicates that the variety is approved in the region designated. 
** Most highly commended. 

VARIETIES OF PLUMS AND PRUNES. ture indistinct; mottled reddish purple, beautiful blue 

. . , , r . ... bloom; freestone; flesh firm, dry and sweet; prolific; 

As With other fruits, comparatively few the leading early plum for shipment. 

varieties of the pluni are largely grown in Red June (Japanese).— Medium to large, deep red 

California, and the list is continually being flesh light yellow, firm, good quality. The best of 

reduced. The following tabulation is the t'^e early Japanese plums. 

result of a very wide inquiry made during Tragedy (California seedling).— Medium to large, 

the vear 1007 suture shallow, wide and extending beyond apex; 

■^ dark purple; flesh yellowish green, sweet and well 

Simon (Prunus Simoni) .—Medium to large, round- flavored; freestone. Very valuable for shipping from 

ish, flattened, with cavities at base and apex; brick ^^^^'-V regions in all parts of the State, 

red, small yellow spots; stalk stout and short; flesh Abundance (Japanese); syns. Yellozv-fleshed Bo- 

yellow, adhering to flattened pit ; largely grown for tan, Mikado of Hinclay. — Large, globular with point 

shipment in early interior regions where it has good at ape-x; cherry color covered with white bloom; 



How to Grow Them 



223 



Varieties of Plums and Prunes 



flesh j-ellow, juicy and rich. Popular for shipment 
from early regions. 

California Red (California seedling). — Introduced 
by J. T. Bogue, of Marysville. Large, light red, 
firm flesh and small pit. A good shipping plum. 

Peach (French, prune peche). — Very large round- 
ish oblate, regidar, flattened at ends; suture distinct, 
shallow ; color varying from salmon to light brown- 
ish red ; stalk very short, cavity narrow, shallow, 
flesh rather coarse, juicy, sprightly, free from the 
nearly round, very flat, much furrowed stone ; shoots 
smooth. A prominent variety for early eastern ship- 
ment. 

Royale Native (French). — Medium roundish, 
slightly wider at base; light purple, stalk half an inch 
long, stout, scarcely sunk ; flesh amber yellow, with 
rich, high flavor, nearly free from the small, flat- 
tened, ovate stone ; shoots very downy. Grown as 
an early market plum and for eastern shipment. 

BradshauK — Large, obovate, with obtuse suture on 
one side, sometimes with very slight neck; dark 
purple, with light blue bloom ; stalk three-fourths 
inch long; cavity narrow; flesh a little coarse, becom- 
ing light brownish purple, at first adhering, but be- 
coming nearly free when fully ripe; juicy, good, 
slightly acid; tree vigorous; shoots purple, smooth. 
Reported from Sacramento County as blooming late 
and seldom injured by frost. Not in high favor. 

Green Cage (French). — Rather small, round; su- 
ture faint green, becoming yellowish green, usually 
with reddish brown dots and network at base ; stalk 
half to three-fourths inch, scarcely sunk; flesh pale 
green, melting, juicy, exceedingly rich, and flavor 
excellent; shoots smooth. 

Burbank. — Tree imported from Japan by Luther 
Burbank. Named "Burbank" by Professor Van De- 
man. Tree usually vigorous, with strong, upright 
shoots, and large, rather broad leaves ; comes into 
bearing very early. Almost globular, being five and 
a half inches around horizontally, and five and five- 
eighths inches around vertically ; rich cherry red, 
slightly mottled with yellow and freely dotted with 
same tint; flesh deep yellow, juicv, very sweet, and 
of fine, somewhat peculiar, but very agreeable flavor ; 
pit is very small, three-fourths by a trifle over half 
an inch in diameter. 

Duane's Purple (New York). — Very large, oblong 
oval, longer on one side; slightly narrowed towards 
the stalk; reddish purple, bloom lilac; stalk three- 
fourths inch; slender; cavity narrow; flesh juicy, 
moderately sweet, and moderate flavor, mostly ad- 
hering to stone; shoots very downy and leaves large 
and downy beneath. 

Washington (New York). — Very large, roundish 
oval, suture obscure, distinct at base; yellowish green, 
faintly marbled, often with pale red blush ; stalk 
half to three-fourths inch; slightly downy; cavity 
w-ide, shallow ; flesh rather firm, sweet, mild, very 
rich and luscious, free from the pointed stone; 
shoots downy; very vigorous, 

Wichson. — A crossbred by Luther Burbank ; form 
suggests the Kelsey, but more symmetrical ; in ripen- 
ing, the color develops from a deep cherry red down 
to a rich claret as full ripeness is attained. The 
color is solid and uniform. The flesh is of amber 
tint, very juicy and translucent; the pit is small 



and shapely, the flavor is striking and agreeable, 
but likely to be deficient near the coast. The most 
popular shipping plum in the State. 

Yellow Egg; syns. Jl'hile Egg, White Magnum 
Bonum (English). — Very large, oval, narrow at 
ends, necked at base, suture distinct; stalk one inch, 
not sunk, surrounded by fleshy ring at insertion ; 
light yellow, bloom thin, white, flesh firm, rather 
acid until fully ripe, and then sweet, adheres to the 
pointed stone. 

Jefferson (New York). — Large, oval, base slightly 
narrowed, suture slight ; greenish yellow, becoming 
golden, with reddish cheek ; bloom thin, white ; stalk 
one inch, but little sunk or not at all ; flesh rich yel- 
low, very rich, juicy, high flavored and luscious, 
adheres partly to its long, pointed stone; shoots 
smooth ; tree a slow grower, but productive. 

Columbia (New York). — Very large, nearly globu- 
lar, one side slightly larger; brownish purple, red- 
dish brown where much shaded, with many fawn- 
colored dots ; bloom blue, copious ; stalk one inch, 
rather stout ; cavity small ; flesh orange, very rich 
and sweet, free from the stone, which is very small 
and compressed. Shoots downy, stout, blunt, spread- 
ing; leaves nearly round. 

Satsuma; syn. Blood Plum of Satsuma. — Intro- 
duced and first fruited in this country by Luther 
Burbank, of Santa Rosa. Described by Prof. H. E. 
Van Deman, U. S. Pomologist. as follows: "Leaves 
more lanceolate than those of Kelsey; fruit averages 
about two and a quarter inches in diameter, nearly 
round, and but slightly sutured on one side ; sur- 
face dark red, under a thick bloom; dots rather 
conspicuous and numerous; flesh dark purplish red, 
which has caused the name of 'Blood Plum of Sat- 
suma' to be given by some ; stone very small and 
pointed." Chiefly grown in Southern California. 

Red Magnum Bonum; syn. Red Egg. — Large, oval, 
tapering to the stalk; suture strong, one side swollen ; 
deep red in the sun ; slight bloom ; stalk one inch, 
slender, cavity narrow ; flesh greenish, coarse, sub- 
acid ; shoots smooth. 

Imperial Gage (New York). — Medium size, oval, 
suture distinct; stalk three-fourths inch, slightly 
hairy, evenly sunk; green, slightly tinged with yel- 
low, with marbled green stripes ; bloom copious and 
white; flesh greenish, juicy. meltin.g. rich, and de- 
licious, usually free from the oval, pointed stone; 
tree very vigorous and productive; shoots long, up- 
right, slightly downy; leaves with slight shade of 
blue. A popular canning variety. 

Damson (English). — Small, roundish oval; purple, 
with thick blue bloom ; melting, juicy, subacid. 

German Prune (Common Quetschc, Germany). — 
"This name has been applied in this State to nu- 
merous plums and prunes which are sold under it. 
The fruit of the true German prune is long oval, 
and swollen on one side ; skin purple, with thick 
blue bloom ; flesh firm, green, sweet, with a peculiar 
pleasant flavor; separates readily from the stone." — 
John Rock. Complaint is made in many localities of 
the tendency of the variety to drop before ripening, 
almost the whole crop sometimes dropping. 

Kelsey Japan. — Trees brought from Japan by the 
late Mr. Hough, of Vacaville, in 1870, and purchased 
by the late John Kelsey, of Berkeley, who propagated 



Varieties of Plums and Prunes 



224 



California Fruits 



and fruited them for several years. First wide dis- 
tribution was made by W. P. Hamnion & Co.. in 1874, 
who named the fruit after Mr. Kelsey. The follow- 
ing description is by H. E. Van Deman, U. S'. Pomol- 
ogist, from California and Florida specimens ; "Tree 
upright in growth, leaves narrow, twigs brownish 
gray. Fruit from one and a half to two and a half 
inches diameter, heart-shaped, with a distinct suture 
on one side from stem to apex ; stem is short, and 
set in a depression at the larger end ; colors mixed 
yellow and purple, which vary in depth, but rarely 
make a brilliant appearance, covered with a bloom; 
flesh yellow, very firm, and clings to the stone, which 
is rather small, and nearly always partly surrounded 
by a cavity; when fully ripe the quality is very good." 
Very widely grown ; is in less favor than formerly 
iiv interior valleys where color is not well developed. 



"Hungarian prime." . It is still marketed by these 
names both here and at the East. The true name 
is English Pond's Seedling. Fruit very large, ovate, 
slightly tapering to stalk ; skin thick, reddish violet, 
with numerous brown dots, and covered with hand- 
some bloom; rather coarse, juicy, sweet; a very 
showy fruit; tree a strong grower and prolific bearer; 
fruit has a tendency to double ; sells well in local and 
distant markets on its style and is largely grown. 

Giant. — Burbank seedling; very large, dark crim- 
son upon yellow ground ; flesh yellow, flavor good ; 
freestone. A shipping plum, disappointing as a dry- 
ing plum. 

Sfk'iidor. — Burbank seedling; medium size but 
larger than French prune; clear red, drying dark, 
docs not shake from the tree ; earlier than French 
prune. 




Robe de Sergeant. 

Where the fruit is of good color it is profitable for 
shipping and is highly regarded everywhere for do- 
mestic use. 

Quackcnbos (New York). — Large, oblong oval; 
deep purple; suture faint; stalk short, slightly sunk; 
slightly coarse, sprightly, sweet and subacid ; partly 
freestone. 

Victoria (English). — Large, obovate, suture dis- 
tinct ; color a fine light reddish purple ; stem half 
inch, cavity rather deep and narrow ; flesh yellow, 
pleasant; clingstone; next to Pond's Seedling in size, 
beauty, and productiveness. 

Hungarian Prune: English Pond's Seedling; Gros 
Prune d'Agcn (English). — This variety was brought 
to San Jose probably about 1856, and in some unac- 
countable way was first contrasted with the French 
prune and called the "great prune of Agen ;" after- 
wards, also in a mysterious wav, it took the name 



Prune d'Agen. 

Sugar. — Burbank seedling, introduced in 1898; 
large and sweet; sugar in fresh fruit 23.92 per cent; 
not a good prune but valuable for shipping; oval, 
slightly flattened ; dark purple with thick white 
bloom ; freestone. 

Imperial Ef'ineuse: syn. Clairac Mammoth. — Intro- 
duced in 1884 by Felix Gillet and in 1886 by John 
Rock. Described bj' Mr. Rock as follows : "Uni- 
formly large size, reddish or light purple, thin skin, 
sweet and high flavor." Described by Mr. Gillet: 
"Uniformly large, more oval than the French prune; 
nearly of the same color but somewhat lighter or 
reddish purple ; earlier than the French and with 
thinner skin." Fruit grown by Mr. Rock analyzed 
at the State University in 1898, showed 20.4 per cent 
of sugar against 18.53 P^f cent average of three 
analyses of French prune. Largely planted and 
grafted in, in the Santa Clara Valley, as a drying 
prune but irregular in bearing. 



How to Grow Them 



225 



Newer Varieties 



There has been quite wideh' planted another prune 
called Iinf'ciial which is very inferior in sugar con- 
tent and likely to prove much less satisfactory. 

Prune d' Agen; syn. Petite Prune d' Agen; French 
Prune, etc. — This is the drying prune at present most 
widely grown in this State. It is described by John 
Rock as follows : "Medium-sized, egg-shaped, violet 
purple, very sweet, rich and sugary; very prolific 
bearer." The first trees of the kind were grown by 
Louis Pellier, at San Jose, about the year 1857, the 
graft having been brought from France by his 
brother in December, 1856. The identify of this 
variety (which was first largely grown in the neigh- 
borhood of San Jose) with the variety chiefly grown 
in the French district tributary to Agen, was first 
announced by W. P.. West, of Stockton, in the year 
1878. during his visit to France. 

Robe dc Sergeant. — Though this term is given 
in Downing as a synonym of Prune d'Agen, and 
seems also to be in French a synonym for the d'Ente 
"prunes ; another prune grown in this State from an 
importation by John Rock, is quite distinct from the 
foregoing. Mr. Rock describes the variety as fol- 
lows : "Fruit medium size, oval ; skin deep purple, 
approaching black, and covered with a thick blue 
bloom; flesh greenish yellow, sweet, and well-flavor- 
ed, sugary, rich and delicious, slightly adhering to 
the stone." This variety makes a larger, darker- 
colored dried prune than the Prune d'Agen, and has 
sold in some cases at a higher price. It has recently 
been in disfavor in coast valleys for defective bearing, 
but is more satisfactory* at some interior points. 

Bulgarian. — "An undetermined variety grown 
under this name, chiefly in the vicinity of Haywards, 
.'\Iameda County; above medium size; almost round; 
dark purple ; sweet and rich, with pleasant acid 
flavor ; tree a vigorous grower, and an early, regular, 
and profuse bearer." — John Rock. 

Coe's Golden Drop (English). — Very large, oval, 
suture distinct, one side more enlarged, necked ; 
light yellow, often dotted red to the sun ; stalk three- 
fourths inch, rather stifif; flesh yellowish, firm, 
juicy, and rich, closely adhering to the pointed stone; 
shoots smooth, rather glossy. A standard late va- 
riety for canning. 

Silver Prune (Oregon). — OriginatetJ with W. H. 
Prettyman, who says : "It is a seedling from Coe's 
Golden Drop, which it much resembles, but it is 
much more productive." Profitable as a bleached 
prune, but defective in bearing in some California 
districts. A red varietv bv bud variation is reported 
by Mr. J. G. Grundel of Alma. 

Golden Prune. — Originated from seed of Italian 
prune by Seth Lewelling. of Milwaukee, Oregon, and 
described by him as larger than Italian ; light golden 
color ; exquisite flavor ; dries beautifully. 

Bavay's Green Gage; syn. Reine Claude dc Bavay 
(French). — Large, round oval, greenish yellow, spot- 
ted with red, with small violet-colored longitudinal 
veins; flesh rather firm, juicy, sugary, rich, of fine 
quality, adhering slightly to the stone ; shoots smooth, 
leaves roundish, shining; a free-grower and very pro- 
ductive. 

Ickivorth Iniferatricc (English). — Large to me- 
dium, obovate, purple, with irregular streaks of fawn 
color; stalk medium; flesh greenish yellow, sweet, 
juicy, rich, mostly adhering to the rather small stone; 



shoots smootli ; very late, hangs long on the tree, 
and keeps well; endures long shipment well. 

Fcllenberg; syns. Large German Prune, Swiss 
Prune, Italian Prune. — Medium size, oval, pointed 
and tapering at both ends; suture small, distinct; 
dark purple, with dark blue bloom; stalk one inch, 
scarcely sunk; flesh greenish yellow, juicy, sweet, 
delicious, parts from the stone ; tree a free grower 
and very productive ; late, excellent for drying. But 
little grown in California, but largely in Oregon. 

Coe's Late Red; syn. Red St. Martin. — Size me- 
dium, roundish, suture distinct on one side; skin 
light purplish red, or dark red ; bloom thin, blue ; 
stalk three-fourths inch, scarcely sunk; flesh rather 
firm, crisp, rich, vinous ; very late ; shoots downy. 

LUTHER BURBANK'S NEWER VARI- 
ETIES. 

Luther Burbank, of Santa Rosa, has not 
only produced the leading shipping plum of 
California, as already stated, but he has six 
others in the list of twenty varieties which 
are chiefly grown as plums and prunes. Dur- 
ing the last few years he has introduced many 
other varieties not included in the foregoing 
list, which possess striking characters and 
some of which will become famous. They 
must, however, endure the test of trial and 
await later credit. Seedlings by other grow- 
ers are also undergoing a similar ordeal. 

Two of Air. Burbank's recent creations, in- 
troduced by Mr. George C. Roeding, are of 
striking characters, and are described as fol- 
lows : 

Santa Rosa. — "It is a fine grower, the wood is 
very tough and the limbs will not break. It is a 
sure, regular bearer and bears always most abund- 
antly. It does not have any oflf years. The fruit 
runs remarkably fine, even in size, and astonish- 
ingly smooth and clear of any defects. It is 
beautiful, delicious and a very fine carrier to East- 
ern markets. It will keep well in hot weather for 
a week after it is ripe, so there is no occasion to 
pick it half ripe in order to ship. T intend to 
plant it very largely myself, and to the exclusion 
of all other shipping plums." — S. F. Lcib. 

Formosa.-" Unusually large, thick, healthy, light 
green foliage ; strong, hard, wiry wood ; blooms with 
the Burbank and Abundance, and always escapes 
late spring frosts, and always bears profusely even 
when continuous rainy weather prevents full pol- 
lination in most other plums. No disease has ever 
found lodgment with Formosa. The fruit is of 
uniform size, averaging about six inches in circum- 
ference one way by eight the other. Fruit yellow 
with a pale bloom until nearly ripe, turning to a 
clear rich red. Flesh pale yellow, unusually firm, 
sweet, rich, delicious, with a delightful apricot flavor, 
nearly freestone. Formosa has been very tlioroughly 
tested for its keeping qualities, which are unequaled 
except by Santa Rosa. Wickson. Burbank, and a few 
others." — Luther Burbank. 



The Quince 



226 



California Fruits 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE QUINCE UNDER CALIFORNIA CONDITIONS. 



THE quince enjoys California conditions 
to the utmost, and rewards the grower 
with large crops of very large and beau- 
tiful fruit. A quince weighing a pound 
is no curiosity, and it is unlikely that any 
city of the world can show such fine quinces 
at such low prices as San Francisco. The 
lesson from this fact is that the fineness of 
the fruit, and the evident adaptation of the 
State to its growth, should not alone be 
considered by the planter. The local con- 
sumption of quinces is naturally small, and 
it is chiefly for home preserving and jelly 
making. The commercial jelly makers use 
apple juice as the basis of nearly all their 
jellies, only using a little quince for flavor- 
ing, and some housewives follow the same 
course. The hope for profitable sale of the 
fruit in large quantities must therefore rest 
on distant markets, and though those well 
acquainted with the growth and sale of the 
fruit in the cities of the Mississippi Valley, 
have predicted a great demand for the Cal- 
ifornia quince in that territory, experiences 
of shippers thus far have been varied, and 
not such as to induce the extension of our 
quince production, at present at least. 

But though the quince in California has at 
present narrow commercial limitations, a few 
trees should find a place in every orchard, 
for family use or for local sale. 

CULTURE OF THE QUINCE. 

The quince is readily grown from cuttings. 
Take good-sized shoots of well-matured wood 
of the current year's growth, after the leaves 
drop in the fall, and set out at once in nur- 
sery row in moist, alluvial soil, or in any 
loose soil which is well drained and can be 
kept moist enough by cultivation or irriga- 
tion. 

Quinces are planted at all distances apart, 
and are grown either as bushes or trees. 



Undoubtedly the best way is to plant about 
fourteen or sixteen feet apart, and prune 
into low standard tree form. This can be 
done much as already advised for other fruit 
trees. An annual cutting back of about half 
of the new growth, while forming the tree, 
will strengthen the trunk and limbs and pre- 
vent the running out of long leaders, which 
droop to the ground on all sides when laden 
with fruit, and are often broken by the 
weight and the wind. Owing to the dis- 
position of the quince to throw out several 
small shoots at a single point, it is advisable, 
when forming the tree, to remove all buds but 
one, just as the growth is starting. This 
will give one good, strong branch where it 
may be needed, instead of several weak ones. 
Pinching off shoots which start out too vig- 
orouslv, or at undesirable points is, of course, 
advisable. 

Soils for the Quince. — As the quince 
grows naturally in moist, though not wet, 
lands, many persons think it always does best 
in springy ground or along the banks of 
rivulets ; but though moist soils are prefer- 
able to dry, such positions are not essential 
to obtaining large crops of fine fruit. In 
fact, the quince, like most fruit trees, prefers 
a well-drained location, and does best on a 
soil which can be freely worked. It thrives 
when fanned by the ocean breeze and does 
fairly well in the interior, providing it has 
moisture enough in the soil, and in some 
situations will doubtless require summer ir- 
rigation. 

VARIETIES OF THE QUINCE. 

Though notably all varieties of the quince 
are introduced by our nurserymen and carried 
by them in small stock, most plantations are 
of the "apple" or "orange"' variety. The 
following may be enumerated, however, as 
growing in this State: 



How to Grow Them 



227 



Varieties of the Quince 



Apple or Orange. — Large; bright yellow; the best. 
August and September. 

Rea's Mammoth. — A very large and fine variety of 
the Orange quince; a strong grower and very pro- 
ductive. 

Smyrna. — Introduced from Smyrna in 1897 by 
George C. Roeding of Fresno; large, lemon yellow, 



The Chinese Quince. — A most extraordinary fruit, 
oblong, of immense size, often weighing from two 
to two and one-half pounds ; growth rapid and dis- 
tinct. 

IVest's Mammoth. — Originated by W. B. West, of 
Stockton, from seed received from Boston in 1853; 
of the Orange quince family; round; clear yellow; 




The Smyrna Quince. 



handsome, tender and delicious after cooking; keeps 
well; tree a strong grower, with heavy foliage. 

Pineapple. — Originated by Luther Burbank and dis- 
tributed by him in 1899; the result of a long effort 
to secure a quince which would cook tender like an 
apple. The name comes from its flavor, which is 
suggestive of the pineapple. Resembles Orange 
quince but is smoother and more globular. 

Portugal. — Very large, and fine flavor, turns a 
fine purple or deep crimson when cooked. 



very large ; fine flavor and for the class a very good 
keeper. 

Champion. — Fniit very large, fair and handsome; 
tree very productive, surpassing any other variety 
in this respect; bears abundantly when young; flesh 
cooks as tender as an apple, and without hard spots 
or cores ; flavor delicate, imparting an exquisite 
quince taste and odor to any fruit with which it is 
cooked. 



PART FOUR: THE GRAPE. 



How to Grow Them 



231 



The Grape Area 



CHAPTER XXV. 



THE GRAPE INDUSTRY IN CALIFORNIA. 



THE grape grows in all parts of Cal- 
ifornia, from near sea level on the 
coast to an elevation of 5000 feet or more 
on the mountains. It is contented, too, with 
nearly all fertile soils, from the deep valley 
loams, where the great fat, firm-fleshed 
grapes are grown for raisin and table grape 
shipments, to the shallow soils of the high 
foothill and mountain slopes, where the 
grapes are less in quantity, but of superior 
aromatic qualities. This wide adaptation 
gives an immense area suited for grape cul- 
ture, but the chief reason for the achievement 
and the promise of the grape in California is 
in the fact that the European species, Vitis 
vinifera, thrives, and thus the Californian 
grower has command of all that Europeans 
have accomplished in centuries by developing 
special varieties of the species for special 
purposes. The grapes of the States east of 
the Rocky mountains are only grown in Cal- 
ifornia in a small way because the European 
varieties are the only ones from which raisins 
can be made; they also furnish the world's 
wine and brandy, and they give size, beauty 
and shipping quality beyond all comparison 
with American varieties. Wherever wealthy 
Elastern connoisseurs choose grapes for their 
glass houses, they select European varieties ; 
the Californian grows his "hot house" grapes 
in the open air. He also grows most of 
them without the cost of trellising, because 
the European varieties generally will bear 
well in short-pruned bush form. California 
has a large acreage of grape vines, and plant- 
ing has been very active during the last few 
years, because good prices have prevailed, 
especially through the increased opportunity 
for fresh grape shipments. At the same 
time, new economic and commercial prob- 
lems are continually arising and the industry 
has to readjust itself to new conditions. Dis- 
cussion of such problems does not come with- 
in the scope of a cultural treatise like this. 
It is the duty of the grower to keep himself 



up to date on such subjects by faithful read- 
ing of California periodicals and by partici- 
pation in public assemblies in the grape in- 
terest. Concerning cultural difficulties, the 
protection of the vine from its enemies and 
problems in vinification, special researches are 
constantly pursued by the University Experi- 
ment Station at Berkeley and publications are 
furnished on application. 

The culture of the grape is one of the 
great branches of California horticulture. Its 
three chief divisions are: Grapes for the 
table, grapes for wine, and grapes for raisins. 
In all these branches the product has far ex- 
ceeded local requirements and has become an 
important item in the export trade of the 
State. The attainments of the industry can 
be roughly measured by the statistics of the 
shipments of grapes, raisins, wine and brandy, 
which are given at the close of Chapter VI. 

THE GRAPE AREA OF CALIFORNIA. 

The grape has a very wide range in Cal- 
ifornia. If the immediate seacoast and the 
higher altitudes on the mountains be ex- 
cepted, the grape may be planted with a good 
chance of success anywhere if soil and local 
topography be suitable. As has been shown 
in Chapter I, the vine can approach quite 
close to the ocean if some shelter from pre- 
vailing cool winds be afforded, and quite high 
on the mountains if one keeps out of de- 
pressions where late frosts are frequent. In 
planting the grape in doubtful situations much 
depends upon choice of jjroper varieties. For 
example, in the cool air of the coast region 
and the short summer of the higher altitudes, 
early maturing varieties must be the main 
reliance, for late sorts will not receive heat 
enough to bring them to full maturity. 

Away from immediate coast influences, and 
up to perhaps three thousand feet or more on 
the sides of the Sierra, the grape is success- 
fully grown both upon the floors of the val- 



The Grape Season 



211 



California Fruits 



leys and upon the hillsides. But there is stil! 
need of choice both of special locations and 
of varieties according to the purposes which 
the grower has in view. The coast valleys 
of the upper part of the State produce good 
table grapes, but they are unfavorable for 
the raisin industry because of the deficient 
sunshine and excessive atmospheric humidity 
of the autumn months. The best raisins are 
made in the dry, heated valleys of the in- 
terior, and the conditions which there develop 
the fullest quality in the raisin grape also de- 
velop the sugar in some kinds of wine grapes 
beyond a desirable percentage. Here again 
the choice of suitable varieties intrudes itself, 
for the varieties which yield light table wines 
in the coast valleys may yield heavy "heady" 
wines in the interior. Valleys, too, as a rule, 
although they yield larger crops of grapes 
and greater measure of wine than similar 
area on the hillsides, must yield the palm for 
quality to the warm soils of the slopes. And 
here enters the business proposition whether 
large amount and less quality is better than 
less amount and higher quality. To this there 
can be no general answer. It depends upon 
the disposition which is to be made of the 
crop, and the demand for it. 

The coloring of certain varieties is a mat- 
ter underlying their profitable production for 
fresh shipments and this is determined by 
local conditions concerning which the best 
information is actual observation of their 
effects. These few facts out of many which 
could be stated will serve to enforce the fact 
that wide as is the range of the grape, both 
localities and varieties for certain purposes 
must he intelligently chosen. Much has been 



learned during the last few years, but it will 
require the experience of another generation, 
perhaps, to make the matter clear. 

Soils for the Grape. — The grape will 
thrive on a great variety of soils, in fact, on 
any of those enumerated as fruit soils in 
Chapter III. There are thrifty vineyards ori 
the light, deep valley loams, on the heavy 
clayey loams, on adobe, and on the red soils 
of the foothills. Even on shallow soils the 
grape will do well if given sufficient moisture, 
and on rocky subsoils it thrives if there be 
crevices for the roots to penetrate, or if the 
rock be shattered to admit the roots to per- 
meable substrata. Standing water during 
the active period of the vine is, however, un- 
favorable to growth, and alkali is adverse to 
satisfactory results in wine making. Almost 
any soil which does not hold excess of water 
or is not tainted with alkali will do for the 
vine, although the plant appreciates good, 
deep soil, and will grow and bear fruit in 
proportion to its supply of it. Of course the 
economic question of ease of cultivation 
enters into the choice of soil for the grape, 
as for other fruits, but its claims are obvious 
and need not be enlarged upon. 

Length oe the Gr.-^pe Season. — By choice 
of early and late varieties the grape season 
extends over half a year in California, with- 
out recourse to artificial means of preserva- 
tion. Where the fall rains are not very pro- 
tracted, the late varieties sometimes remain 
in good condition on the vines until the win- 
ter pruning. Good grapes have been picked 
from the vines as late as the middle of Jan- 
uary. 




How to Grow Them 



233 



Growing Vines from Cuttings 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

PROPAGATING AND PLANTING VINES. 



THE grape is propagated from seed or by 
layers, or by cutting of various lengths, 
Growing from seed was somewhat resorted 
to in California to get stocks for resisting 
the phylloxera, but such wide variation in 
resistance occurred in seedlings that propa- 
gation by cuttings, of varieties demonstrated 
to be best in this regard, has become univer- 
sal. There is at present little disposition to 
grow grape seedlings in the hope of secur- 
ing better and hardier varieties, as is so 
largely done in other parts of the country. 
The vast numbers of varieties of the Euro- 
pean sf)ecies, vinifcra, which we have to draw 
from, makes the effort for new seedlings of 
little object. 

Growing Vines from Seed. — Seed is 
easily removed from the grapes by crushing 
the berries and stirring the pulp rapidly in 
water. From one pound of good, fresh seed 
one might get from two to three thousand 
seedlings. Some advocate sowing grape seed 
in the fall, just as it is taken from the fruit, 
but best results are usually obtained by spring 
sowing, after danger from frost is over. It 
is advisable to keep grape seed moist for 
some time before sowing. Seed soaked one 
week in w-ater. and afterward allowed to lie 
in a heap for three weeks germinates quickly, 
starting in ten days or two weeks after being 
put in the ground. Professor Husmann ad- 
vised pouring hot water on the seed and al- 
lowing it to cool, the seed remaining in the 
water for twelve hours, and after that it is 
kept for a week in a sack, exposed to the 
sun, and covered at night, the sack being 
moistened from time to time. 

The seed should be sown in the open 
ground, the soil having been worked deeply 
and finely, as for a garden. Sow the seed 
about an inch apart, in drills far enough from 
each other to admit the use of the cultivator 
in the summer : cover not to exceed an inch in 
depth, and after moderate pressing of the 



ground, cover the whole bed with rotten 
straw% which should be gradually removed 
as the sprouts appear above the ground. 
This mulch will not only retain moisture, 
but will prevent the surface from being 
crusted by heavy showers. Summer cultiva- 
tion with cultivator and hoe should be given. 

Growing Vines by L.wering. — This is an- 
other rnethod of multiplying vines which is 
but little employed in California, because it 
is so much easier to secure plants by cuttings, 
as the vinifcra species roots so readily. Lay- 
ering consists in bending down and burying 
one of the lower canes so as to facilitate 
top and root growth from each of the buds. 
To hold the cane in place, stakes are used, 
the trench being left open until the shoots 
grow out and then, by covering the roots are 
developed. The cane must rest in moist 
earth, and usually has to be watered artificial- 
ly, as well as treated to prevent evaporation. 
The following winter the cane is raised and a 
plant made at each node. 

Another use for layering is to fill a vacancy 
in the row, a cane being taken from the 
nearest living vine. In this case the layer 
must be set in a deep trench so as not to 
be torn out by the plow, and the layered cane 
is at once covered in with earth, all but one 
or two buds at the extremity, where the new 
vine is desired. Such a layer usually bears 
the second year and is then detached from the 
parent vine. 

Both the layers described are laid down 
early in the spring, before growth starts in 
the vine. Summer layers of the current 
season's growth are sometimes made, but 
are not usually satisfactory. 

Growing Vi.nes from Cl'TTing.s. — This 
is the prevailing method in tins State both 
to secure grafting stocks and to grow vines 
on their own roots. In growing from cut- 
tings, different policies are adopted, /. e.. 



Long Cuttings 



234 



California fruits 



placing the cuttings in permanent place in 
the vineyard, or rooting them in nursery to 
be afterward transferred to the vineyard as 
"rooted vines." First, the various kinds of 
cuttings will be considered, and their placing 
mentioned later. 

Growth from Single Eyes. — The use of 
single eyes or single buds, the shortest possi- 
ble form of cutting, is not large in California, 
but some growers have reported good results. 
The method is to prepare the cuttings with 
a half-inch or so of the cane on each side of a 
bud and plant them carefully, with the bud up- 
wards, in well-prepared soil, covering the 
cutting completely, but very little under the 
surface. Success depends upon retention of 
moisture in the surface soil to induce rooting, 
and mulching is advisable. The method of 
propagation, too, seems best adapted to the 
moister parts of the State, whence, in fact, 
most success with it has been reported. Be- 
sides economy of wood in getting a plant 
from each bud of the cane, which is sometimes 
an object, growing from single eyes is ad- 
vocated because of the satisfactory root sys- 
tem secured, which much resembles that of 
a seedling. The use of single eyes is obvious- 
ly better adapted to nursery than to field 
growth. 

The Use of Longer Cuttings.* — It was 
formerly considered good practice to leave 
a piece of old wood attached to the base of 
the cutting, on the ground that such cuttings 
always grew. This practice is now very 
generally abandoned, as it often gives rise 
to weak and diseased vines. The piece of 
old wood always decays finally, and the de- 
cay may spread into the trunk and roots of 
the vine. A good cutting should consist ex- 
clusively of one-year-old wood ; that is, the 
wood which has grown during the previous 
season. 

The form and length of the cuttings will 
depend on the use that is to be made of them. 
If they are to be used as scions for grafting 
they may be cut up in any way and of any 
length that is found convenient for handling 
and keeping them in good condition. If 
they are to be used for rooting either in the 



nursery or the vineyard it is most conveni- 
ent to cut them up into the exact lengths 
which are to be planted. 

The length will depend altogether on the 
soil and climate where they are to be planted. 
They should be of such a length that when 
planted the base of the cutting will be at the 



* Much of the followiiiK description of handling cuttings is 
taken bodily from the excellent University publications by Mr. 
F. T. Bioletti, viz: Circular 26. ".Selection and preparation of 
Vine CuttinpS." Bulletin'180. " Resistant Vineyards— grafting, 
planting, cultivation." Bulletin 193. "The Best Wine Grapes for 
California." etc. All these contain discussions of propagation 
methods, 



Properly made cuttings. 

level where the conditions are most favorable 
to root formation. If the base is too deep, 
it will be too wet and too cold to develop 
roots. Roots will start higher up and the 
bottom part will be wasted, or worse still, 
may decay and injure the vine. If the base 
is too near the surface the whole cutting may 
drv out and die before its roots have de- 
veloped sufficiently to supply it with water. 



How to Grow Them 



235 



Rooting Cuttings 



In the nioister soils of the cooler districts 
a cutting lo inches long is sufficient for direct 
planting in the vineyard. In the drier and 
warmer interior a 14-inch to 16-inch cutting 
is better, while in the driest soils of the 
warmest districts it is often necessary to have 
a cutting 18 to 20 inches long. For planting 
in the nursery a 12 or 14-inch cutting is 
about the most convenient. If the soil of 
the nursery is wet and cold more of the 
cutting should be left above ground; if, on 
the contrary, the soil tends to be hot and dry 
the cutting must be planted deeper and even 
covered up completely. 

It is not necessary, or possible, to make 
every cutting of exactly the same length, 
because they should all terminate at each 
end at a node. A vine cane consists of nodes 
where the buds are and internodes between 
the buds. The pith is interrupted at each 
node by a woody partition (called the "dia- 
phram") which extends through the cane 
at each bud. In making a cutting, therefore, 
we should cut exactly through a bud both 
at the top and at the bottom. This will 
leave the woody partitions, which will prevent 
decay at the bottom and drying out at the 
top. If removed, the pith in the upper inter- 
node will be exposed to alternate wetting and 
drying, and may decay, thus weakening or 
killing the bud below. 

In planting, the cutting should be placed 
with just one bud above the surface of the 
ground, as indicated by the dotted line in the 
accompanying engraving. It is a great mis- 
take to leave more than one bud out of the 
ground, as this increases the danger of drying 
out. 

M.\KiNG AND Caring for Cuttings. — Cut- 
tings can be taken from the vines at any 
time after the fall of the leaf and before the 
spring flow of sap begins. The earlier 
cuttings — those taken before January — are 
more likely to make a successful start and 
after-growth than those cut later in the 
season. 

It is common, however, to defer prepara- 
tion of cuttings till the pruning is done, be 
it early or late, and this will generally answer 
the purpose, if care be taken to secure the 
cuttings immediately at the pruning; but if 
the branches be allowed to lie upon the 
ground for days, exposed to sun, wind, or 
frost, before the cuttings are secured, their 



chances of growth are seriously lessened, and 
a good part of the failures in planting are 
due to such cuttings. 

Cuttings should be taken from short- 
jointed, well-ripened wood of the previous 
year's growth, cut squarely and smoothly 
as already described. Cuttings from the 
outer ends of long canes are not so likely 
to root, nor to grow so vigorously, as those 
from stronger wood, from three-eighths to 
five-eighths of an inch diameter generally. 

Keep them dormant until the time comes 
to set them in the vineyard, else the tender 
shoots may get broken. To keep them back, 
place them, at the pruning, in trenches, about 
as deep as the length of the cuttings, on 
the north side of a close board fence or a 
building, cover with loose earth, and over that 
throw some straw and boards. Take care 
that the trenches are in moist but not wet 
ground as too much moisture rots the cut- 
tings. If the ground has not been moist 
enough, and the cuttings seem dry or withered, 
plunge them in water to within three or four 
inches of their top, for a few days before 
setting, and do not let them dry again before 
planting. 

Rooting Cuttings in Nursery. — What 
has been written is in reference to cuttings 
designed for placing in permanent position 
in the vineyard, but, for the most part, applies 
as well to the preparation of cuttings for the 
nursery. For nursery treatment, however, 
shorter cuttings can be used than for field 
planting, because of the better cultivation and 
more generous moisture conditions which are 
usually provided. 

In preparation of ground for the rooting 
of vines and the planting of cuttings therein, 
the suggestions in Chapter VIII are directly 
applicable, as, to secure rooting of the cut- 
tings, there is just as great need for deep 
and fine working of the soil, pressing of 
it around the cutting, and for careful culture 
during the growing season, as there is for 
such treatment of fruit-tree seedling or root 
graft. It is just as necessary, too, that the 
rooted cuttings should be carefully lifted and 
guarded from drying out while on the way 
from the nursery to permanent place. The 
reader is, therefore, referred to Chapter VIII 
for suggestions on preparation, laying out, and 
care of nursery ground intended for the root- 
ing of grape cuttings. 



Budding and Grafting 



236 



California Fruits 



To secure vines upon resistant roots re- 
course has recently been made by some 
growers to the cutting-graft which will be 
mentioned presently. 

There is a growing tendency to use rooted 
vines instead of cuttings in planting out 
vineyard, for, although the former cost 
several 'times as much as the latter, either 
in the time of the grower or in cash outlay, 
the balance is believed to be usually on the 
other side, when the uniform stand and more 
satisfactory growth secured by rooted vines 
are considered. 

BUDDING AND GRAFTING THE 
GRAPE VINE. 

Working over the grape-vine is largely 
practiced in this State and is easily accom- 
plished. The occasion is twofold : Replacing 
undesirable varieties with those of better 
quality, or in better market demand, and in 
bringing the vinifera varieties upon roots 
which resist the attacks of the phylloxera. 
The employment of resistant stocks ha.s 
proved eminently satisfactory in this State, 
the resistant stock having been successfully 
installed even in the hole from which the 
dead vinifera root has been taken. For this 
reason resistant roots are largely relied upon 
in the planting of new vineyards in infested 
districts, and are also used to some extent in 
regions where the insect is not now found, 
by those who fear and desire to provide 
against its coming. And yet in the large 
planting of vineyard in the interior valley 
which has recently been undertaken very little 
attention has been paid to resistant roots. 
It is so cheap to proceed with simple cuttings 
of the variety desired, and the vine comes 
into hearing so soon, that most planters are 
willing to take the risk of infection with 
phylloxera for it may be long delayed and 
several profitable crops may be realized before 
its arrival. This is a question which each 
planter must answer for himself. 

Budding the Grape. — Buds can be readily 
made to grow in grape canes, though budding 
is not largely used. Success can he had with 
the same method of budding that is common 
with fruit trees as described in Chapter IX. 
Insert the bud (which is taken from a cane 
of the previous season's growth) in the spring 
as soon as the bark will slip well on the stock, 
and before the run of the sap is too strong 



Keep the cuttings in a cool place so their 
growth will be retarded, and then seize upon 
just the right condition of the stock, insert 
the bud under the bark of a cane of the 
previous season's growth, tie it around with 
a string, and the bud starts readily without 
further treatment. When its growth shows 
its ability to take the sap, the top of the 
stock is removed. 

Herbaceous budding is also practicable. 
It consists of taking buds from the current 
season's growth and working them upon canes 
also of current growth by the usual shield 
budding process. Mr. Thomas Casalegna of 
San Martin succeeds well with this under 




Budding from previous season's growth. 



these conditions : All buds put in from July 
15 to August 15 start the same year, but may 
be injured by fall frosts. Those put in from 
August 15 to September 15 remain dormant 
until the following year, unless the stock 
is exceptionally vigorous. Budding is most 
successful in the month of August. The 
buds should be taken from canes which have 
reached the stage of maturity indicated by 
the ])ith turning white and just before the 
bark turns yellow. 

Gr.\FTing the \'inE. — Grafting in old vine 
roots is a simple operation, and is performed 
in various ways. The principles involved in 
vine grafting are similar to those affecting 
tree grafting, as described in Chapter IX. 
The processes employed are also similar, but 
the graft requires less binding and covering. 



How to Grow Them 



237 



Herbaceous Grafting- 



because it is usually made beneath the sur- 
face of the ground, and is, therefore, less 
subject to accident, exposure, and drying out. 

Grafting in the old Stump. — This is 
resorted to when the character of the vine- 
yard is to be changed. Out of the many 
ways for working into old stumps, one intro- 
duces the scion by a side cut into the stock 
without splitting across as shown at C C in 
the engraving on page 238. The earth is re- 
moved from the old vine down to its first lat- 
eral roots, and the top is sawed off cleanly a few 
inches above the first laterals. A cut is then 




Herbaceous buds which have taken hold. 



made into the side of the stump with a knife 
and mallet, as is shown in the figure. The 
scion is then cut long enough so that one 
bud will remain above ground when the sur- 
face is leveled again, the bottom of the scion 
being given an oblique wedge-shape, so as 
to fit the crevice in the stock. Some care 
is needed in shaping the wedge of the scion, 
so that the surfaces are in contact will give 
good results. If the cut is well made and the 
end of the scion so adjusted that the stock 
will pinch it when it is pushed into place, 
nothing more will be needed except to smear 
over the cut surface of the stump and the 



joint of the scion and stock with clay or with 
a mixture of two parts clay and one part 
fresh cow manure. If the scion is held 
firmly and sealed in with this mixture, it 
usually needs no tying, and the hole can be 
carefully filled with loose earth, with a 
strong stake to mark the place of the graft, 
and to which the new growth can be securely 
tied afterwards. 

Another common method of grafting be- 
neath the ground is to split the stump across 
its center, as is done in top-grafting fruit 
trees as shown in Chapter IX, and one or 
two scions inserted. If two are used and both 
grow, the weakly one is afterward suppressed. 
In this cross cleft graft some grafters rely 
upon the stock to hold the scion without 
tying, and daub it over with the clay mixture, 
care being taken to fill and cover the split 
in the stock to exclude water. Others put 
a ligature around the split stump, as shown 
in the engraving. Strips of cotton cloth an- 
swer well for this purpose. Tying offers 
better security' from knocking out the graft 
with the cultivator. 

In grafting into very tough old stumps, 
some growers leave a slim wedge of wood 
in the cleft with the scion to prevent the 
stock from closing too forcibly upon the scion. 

Side Gr.\fting. — Side grafting the vine is 
commended by some growers. It consists in 
inserting a graft by a cut into the side of 
the stock, the method being essentially the 
same as that employed with fruit trees, as 
described in Chapter IX, except that in side 
grafting the vine the top is not amputated, 
but is allowed to bear its crop and is then 
removed the following winter. The next 
summer the scion will bear a crop, and the 
vine is worked over without cessation in its 
hearing. 

Herb.\cEous Gr.\ftinc. — This term is ap- 
plied to a graft in which the scion of the cur- 
rent season's growth is set by a cleft graft 
into canes also of the current season's growth, 
while both scion and cane are elastic, but not 
too soft. The method has not been usually 
successful in this State, apparently because of 
the dryness of the summer air. Still some 
satisfactory results are reported. Mr. Casa- 
legna of Santa Clara county, whose success 
with herbaceous buds has been noted, does 
well also with soft-wood grafting by the 



Care of Scions 



238 



California Fruits": 



whip-graft method. He says it is most 
successful in June, provided the scions are 
hard enough. The pith must be white. In 
a strong-growing vineyard grafting may be 



knitting yarn, not with raffia. The season 
for herbaceous grafting will, of course, vary 
according to the locality. Hot weather 
immediately following the work is fatal to 




Methods of field grafting grape vines. 

nch 



A. Whip graft for stocks ^ to ^3 of ai 

B, BB. Whip graft for stocks =;i to % of ai 

C. CC. Cleft graft for stocks ?1 of an inch 



diameter, 
ch in diameter, 
diameter and for old stumps. 



done in July. The leaves are taken off the 
scions when they are cut. If they are to be 
used immediately they are placed in water ; 
if to be carried some distance they are placed 
in a wet sack. Tie the grafts with German 



most of the grafts. If two or three cool days 
follow the insertion of the scions he obtains 
an almost perfect stand. 

Care of Scions. — Scions should be kept 
cool and moist enough to prevent drying 



How to Grow Them 



239 



Resistant Varieties 



but not wet enough to cause decay, as has 
already been described in the keeping of 
cuttings. 

Time op Grafting. — Grafting into old vine 
stumps is done in February, March, and April 
in different parts of the State, March being 
the month usually chosen for the work. If 
a spring graft fails, the stump may be re- 
grafted in August or in the following spring. 
In regrafting, the stump is cut off again be- 
low the previous cleft. The time for the work 



lication of specific information which can 
be had by application to the Director. 

Resistant Varibties. — American wild 
vines are characterized by very marked 
differences in degree of resistance to phyllox- 
era, and especially in adaptability to soils. 
Not only do species differ in this respect, but 
varieties of the same species show widely 
different characteristics. As a result of the 
process of selection varieties have been se- 
cured which are far above the average of the 




Instances of successful herbaceous grafts. 



is when the sap has ceased flowing, usually 
from the first to the tenth of August. 

The recourse to resistant roots to escape 
the phylloxera has been attended with some 
disappointment because the wild roots at 
first widely used proved only partially re- 
sistant. Recently, in the main through em- 
ployment of French selected varieties of the 
American wild species, stocks with satis- 
factory resistance, larger growth and vigor 
and adaptation to different California soils have 
been secured. Notable success has been 
attained in the habilitation of vineyards on 
the basis of resistant roots. The University 
Experiment Station, at Berkeley, has main- 
tained leadership in this direction by pub- 



species in vigor of growth and development, 
degree of resistance and general suitability 
for resistant root purposes. The few varieties 
which have thus demonstrated particular 
excellence in France and have given notable 
indications of success in California, are pre- 
sented by Mr. Bioletti as follows : 

The varieties of resistant stocks which will 
in all probability be most used in California 
are Rupestris St. George (du Lot), Riparia 
X Rupestris 3306, Riparia X Rupestris 3309, 
Riparia Solonis 1616, Mourvedre X Rupestris 
1202, Aramon X Rupestris 2, Riparia gloire, 
and Riparia grande glabre. These are all 
varieties which have given excellent results 
for vears in Europe, and have all been tested 



French method of Rooting 



240 



California Fruits 




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How to Grow Them 



241 



The Cuttine Graft 



successfully in California. Among them arc 
varieties suitable for nearly all the vineyard 
soils of California, with perhaps the exception 
of some of the heavier clays. 

The Rupestris St. George is remarkably 
vigorous and grows very large, supporting 
the graft well even without stakes. It roots 
easily and makes excellent unions with most 
vinifera varieties. It is well suited to deep 
soils where its roots can penetrate. Its de- 
fects are that it is very subject to root-rot, 
especially in moist soils; it sutkers badly 
and it suffers from drought in shallow soils. 
Its great vigor produces coulure with some 
varieties and often necessitates long pruning. 

In moist or wet soils 1616 or 3306 have 
given better results in France and give indi- 
cations of doing equally well here. In drier 
soils 3309 will probably be found preferable. 

Aramon Rupestris No. 2 is suited to the 
same soils as Rupestris St. George, and does 
particularly well in extremely gravelly soils. 
It has some of the defects of the St. George 
and is moreover more difficult to graft, and 
its only advantage in California is that it is 
rather less susceptible to root-rot. 

There are no better resistant stocks than 
Riparia gloire and Riparia grande glabre, 
wherever they are put in soils that suit them. 
They do well, however, only in deep, rich, 
alluvial soils which are neither too wet nor 
too dry. Their grafts are the most produc- 
tive of all, and ripen their grapes from one 
to two weeks earlier than the grafts on St. 
George. Their principal defect is that they 
are very particular as to the soil, and they 
never grow quite as large as the scion. The 
gloire is the most vigorous, and the difference 
of diameter is less with this variety than 
with any other Riparia. 

The Mourvedre X Rujjestris 1202 is ex- 
tremely vigorous, roots and grafts easily, and 
is well adapted to rich, sandy and moist soils. 
In drier and poorer soils its resistance is 
perhaps not sufficient. 

The most promising varieties for general 
use at present seem to be the two hybrids of 
Riparia and Rupestris, 3306 and 3309. They 
have great resistance to the phylloxera, root 
and graft almost as easily as St. George, and 
are quite sufficiently vigorous to support any 
variety of vinifera. The former is more 
suited to the moister soils and wherever there 
is danger of root-rot, and the latter to the 



drier soils. In general, they are suited to 
a larger variety of soils and conditions than 
perhaps any other varieties. 

Riparia gloire should be planted only on 
rich, deep alluvial soil containing an abun- 
dance of plant food and humus, what would 
be called good garden land, such as river 
bank soil not liable to overflow. 

In most other soils Riparia X Rupestris 
3306 is to be recommended, except those 
which are rather dry, where 3309 is to be 
preferred, or those which are very wet, where 
Solonis X Riparia 1616 is surer to give good 
results. 

The Cutting Gr.-\Ft. — Grafting the desired 
variety upon a resistant cutting, putting 
these cutting-grafts through a callusing bed 
and then planting the grafted cutting in 
nursery for rooting is an accepted French 
method which is being successfully employed 
in California. This has advantage in time 
gained and in securing a full stand of vines 
as compared with grafting upon cuttings 
already rooted in place in the vineyard though 
the latter has been successfully practiced. 

If cutting-grafts are placed directly in the 
nursery many will fail. For this reason it 
is always best, except at the extreme end of 
the grafting season, to "stratify" the grafts in 
a "callusing'' bed, where conditions of mois- 
ture, temperature, and aeration can be con- 
trolled. This callusing bed is usually a pile 
of clean sand placed on the south side of a 
wall or building surrounded by a board par- 
tition where there is no possibility of its be- 
coming too wet by the flow of water from a 
higher level or from an overhanging roof. 
It should be protected, if necessary, by a 
surrounding ditch. It should be furnished 
with a removable cover of canvas or boards to 
protect it from rain and to enable the tem- 
perature to be controlled by admission or ex- 
clusion of the sun's rays. A water-proof 
v^'agon-cover, black on one side and white on 
the other, is excellent for this purpose. 

The bottom of the callusing bed is first 
covered with 2 or 3 inches of sand. The 
bundles of grafts are then placed in a row 
along one end of the bed, and sand well filled 
in around them. The bundles should be 
placed in a slightly inclined position with 
the scions uppermost, and the sand should be 
dry enough so that it sifts in between the 
grafts in the bundle. The bundles of grafts 



Laving out the Vineyard 



242 



California Fruits 



are then covered up completely with sand, 
leaving it at least 2 inches deep above the 
top of the scion. There should be but little 
more moisture present for callusing than in 
the sand used for keeping the cuttings over 
winter. Too much moisture will stimulate 
the emission of roots and starting of buds 
without aiding the callus formation, which is 
a perfectly distinct process from the forma- 
tion of roots. 

An adjacent engraving shows the subse- 
quent rooting of cutting-grafts in the nur- 
sery. 

Grafting on Resistant Stocks after 
Rooting. — Grafting on resistant roots differs 
from working in old stumps in the size of 
the wood to be operated on, and in the fact 
that the graft must be set higher up because 
it is not desirable to have the scion strike 
roots of its own, for the obvious reason that 
depending on such roots would make the vine 
no longer resistant. The advantage of cover- 
ing the graft with earth is, however, still to 
be enjoyed, for the earth can be raised in a 
little mound around the graft, to be removed 
when the graft has taken well. For this rea- 
son grafting on resistant roots is usually 
done at or near the surface of the ground. 

The common cleft graft is used when the 
stock is large enough to give a split strong 
enough to hold in the scion. In grafting 
smaller stocks the whip graft is used both 
in making cutting-grafts and in grafting 
cuttings already rooted. This graft is vari- 
ously treated. It is covered with clay by 
some, by others with grafting wax ; but the 
common experience is that grafting wax 
makes too tight a joint, and holds in surplus 
sap, which begets disease. The use of a wax 
band specially adapted to ruling conditions 
has proved very successful, but the easiest 
and usually most satisfactory way is to wind 
with soft twine or raffia which will decay and 
loosen as the graft enlarges, but care must be 
taken to cut the band if it has not decayed at 
the time of transplanting. 

LAYING OUT THE VINEYARD. 
Vines are planted in rectangles, generally 
in squares, but sometimes at a less distance in 
the rows than the rows are from each other. 
The stakes which are to represent the future 
vines are in either case placed by the same 
methods of measuring or marking off. All 



the methods described for clearing and pre- 
paring lands, in Chapter \TI, and for laying 
oft' ground in squares, described in Chapter X, 
are applicable to vineyard ground. The 
measuring wire therein described is the means 
usually employed for laying ofif. A special 
contrivance which has been used to some ex- 
tent on level ground is thus described: 

The marker most in use is made in the form cf 
a sled, si.xteen, fourteen, or twelve feet long, with 
three runners so placed as to mark rows'eight, seven, 
or six feet wide. These runners should be made 
about three feet long, of some hard wood (Oregon 
pine will do), two inches thick and iirmly nailed to 
two planks placed upon them of the lengths first 
above named. Upon these should be bolted two 
strong pieces of joist in the form of wagon hounds 
projecting in front far enough to receive a stout 
pole like a wagon-tongue, well braced and fastened 
with an iron rod. Care must be taken that the 
motion of the machine is steady and true in all its 
parts. With a well-made marker, a gentle team, 
and a careful driver, excellent work may be done. 

Distance op Planting. — There is as much 
difference of opinion and practice in fixing the 
distance between vines as between orchard 
trees, but usually more room is given than - 
formerly. Planted in squares, the distance 
varies from seven to ten feet, with eight feet 
as most prevalent, taking- the State as a 
whole. Planting in rows is also adopted to 
some extent. Such plantations are made with 
the vines seven by ten or eight by ten feet, 
four and one-half by eleven feet, etc. There 
is great variation in the distances. Some 
advantages of the row system are as follows : 
Greater space to spread trays for raisin cur- 
ing; plowing can be done with double team 
and larger plows ; the brush can be gathered 
and burned between the rows instead of car- 
rying it to the avenues ; sulphur and mate- 
rials for spraying can be brought ii; by team to 
any part of the vineyard ; empty boxes can 
be distributed and filled ones gathered up 
without carrying, etc. Planting in rows rec- 
ommends itself not only for planting new 
vineyards, but also for changing old vineyards 
from seven by seven feet to three and one- 
half by fourteen feet, or from eight by eight 
feet to four by sixteen feet, giving opportu- 
nity to change from a vinifcra-rooi vineyard 
to a resistant-root vineyard. This can be ac- 
complished by planting resistant roots in the 
alternate rows to be preserved, right between 
the two old vines. 

Number of Vines to the Acre. — How- 
ever the vines be set, it is verv easy to calcu- 



How to Grow Them 



243 



Cuttings and Rooted Vines 



late the number of vines which an acre will 
accommodate. Multiply the distance in feet 
between the rows by the distance the plants 
are apart in the rows, and the product will 
be the number of square feet for each plant, 
which, divided into the number of feet in an 
acre (forty-three thousand five hundred and 
sixty), will give the number of plants to the 
acre. 

Avenues in the Vineyard.— For conven- 
ience of access with team and wagon there 
should always be avenues through the vine- 
yard. They are usually arranged so as to 
cut up the vineyard into blocks about twice 
as long as broad, if the vineyard be on level 
land. Of course, on hilly lands the avenues 
should be located for ease of hauling. The 
avenue is made by leaving out a row of vines, 
and, therefore, the exact size of the block 
will depend upon the distance between the 
rows. Some advise having not more than 
forty vines between the avenues. Planting 
in rows, with wide spaces between the rows, 
renders fewer avenues necessary. 

TLAXTIXG CUTTINGS AND ROOTED 

VINES. 

\'arious means are used for planting cut- 
tings. An essentia! condition to successful 
growth is to have the lower part of the cut- 
ting well embedded in the soil, as it will not 
root unless in close contact with the earth. 
To lack of care in this regard most failures 
are due, and for lack of surety that such 
contact is made the various contrivances for 
speedy planting, such as the planting bar, are 
widely condemned ; an excavation of the hole 
and refilling with fine surface earth, just as 
advised in Chapter XI, for planting orchard 
trees, is commended as the safest practice. 
Much, however, depends upon the soil. In 
loose, free soil such a use of bar or "sheep's- 
foot" as will be presently described may be 
satisfactory, while it would be impracticable 
on firmer soils, both because of the difficulty 
of insertion and because the packed condition 
caused by the forcing in would not favor 
root extension, and not desirable on shallow 
soils because the contact of the better surface 
soil with the bottom of the cutting will stimu- 
late the growth of the cutting, and is. there- 
fore, very desirable. 

The post-hole auger and a device for tak- 
ing out soil as a '"trier"' takes out a sample of 



cheese or butter, have also been used to some 
extent, but not widely, in making holes for 
cuttings. 

Other forms of dibbles for planting vine 
cuttings relate particularly to the setting of 
cutting-grafts in a light deeply-worked nur- 
sery soil, but may be also used to advantage 
in placing cuttings in the vineyard if the soil 
favors such a method. They are described 
by Mr. Bioletti as follows : 

Two of the best forms of nursery dibbles 
are shown in the engraving. The first. A, 
consists of a piece of round one-half-inch 
iron. i8 inches long, furnished with a wooden 
handle at one end and a curved double point 
with a V-shaped cleft in the other. The bot- 
tom node of the stock is caught in the 
cleft and the graft forced down to the 
desired depth. Unless the ground is very 
light the other dibble, B, is preferable. It 
consists of a sword-shaped piece of iron i8 
to 20 inches long and 2 inches wide, furnished 
also with a handle. The usual way of using 
it is to press it into the ground to the desired 
depth, open the hole a little with a ' lateral 
thrust, withdraw it and insert the graft. The 
dibble is then pushed into the ground again 
at about an inch to one side of the graft and 
by another lateral thrust the earth is pressed 
tightly around the graft. This takes more 
time than is necessary with the other form of 
dibble, and unless done carefully there is 
danger of failing to make the soil close 
around the base of the stock, which is thus 
left surrounded by an air space. Grafts left 
in this way are apt to become moldy and fail 
to make good roots. The figure C is a plant- 
ing dibble to be used with hand and foot like 
a spade. All such contrivances are only 
suited to light soils which crumble and settle 
easily. On heavier soils, digging holes and 
placing the soil around the roots or the base 
of the cutting by hand is indispensable. 

Pl.vnting B.\r and SHEEP's-FooT.-^The 
following methods, described by Dr. Gustav 
Eisen as prevailing in the raisin districts of 
the San Joaquin Valley, on sandy, loamy 
soils, will well illustrate similar methods 
wherever followed : 

The planting bar consists of a bar of hard iron, 
sharpened at the lower end and fnrnished with a 
cross-handle at the other. The length of the bar is 
abont three and a half feet, width abont two and a 
half inches, and thickness a third to half an inch. 
If less than this the bar will bend. The planting is 



When to Plant 



244 



California Fruits 



done by pushing the bar perpendicularly in the 
ground. After withdrawing it, insert the cutting 
and push it down to the bottom. Fill up the hole 
by again inserting the bar in the ground close by 
and pressing the flat side against the hole. 

The sheep's-foot consists of a round rod with 
cross-handle at the upper end. The lower end of the 
rod is slightly flattened, bent, and forked. The 






\J 



l^ 



'■' 



i 



Dibbles for planting vine cuttings. 

planting is done by fitting the forked end over the 
butt-end bud of the cutting, and immediately pushing 
cutting and rod together to the desired depth in the 
soil. A slight twist is now given to the sheep's- 
foot. This loosens it from the cutting and allows 
it to be withdrawn. A tamp with the foot fills the 
hole. Great care must be taken in withdrawing the 
sheep's-foot, lest in doing so the cutting should be 
lifted also, and this will leave a fatal air chamber 
at the lower end. The slight twist given the rod 



before withdrawing loosens it and leaves the cutting 
undisturbed. 

FoF planting in dry situations some careful 
planters run water and fine earth into the hole 
made by the bar after inserting the cutting; 
others run in fine sand dry and then pour on 
water. In using water in this way one must 
take care that he does not use adobe earth, 
for a succeeding dry spell may bake it, and 
the cutting will be worse off than if not pud- 
dled. 

Planting Rooted Vines. — Planting rooted 
vines is governed by the same rules com- 
mended for planting trees in Chapter XI, 
so far as preparation of holes, care in plac- 
ing and firming the soil around the roots, etc., 
is concerned. In handling rooted vines there 
must be greater care in packing and trans- 
portation to prevent the roots froin drying, 
and in carrying to the field it is generally 
advised that the plants be kept in a pail or 
other receptacle with water. The vine roots 
are very small and tender, and success will 
largely depend upon good care of them. At 
planting all dead or injured roots should be 
trimmed away, healthy roots shortened so 
that they can be placed well in the hole, and 
the top reduced to a single cane cut back to 
two eyes. 

When to Plant. — The exact time to plant 
can not be stated, for the condition of the 
soil and the local season-points are the best 
guides. Planting can be done much later as 
a rule in the coast regions than in the inte- 
rior, because the soil is usually later in getting 
into good condition of mellowness and 
warmth, and the late rains are usually 
heavier. It is certainly not advisable to 
place cuttings in cold, wet soil, and dry soil 
will quickly destroy their vitality. The sugges- 
tions given in Chapter XI should be care- 
fully considered. The planter must use good 
judgment in choosing his time for planting, 
aided in forming it by the best local experi- 
ence he can get. 

Cultivation of Vineyard. — General sug- 
gestions concerning the cultivation of the 
vineyard have already been given in Chapter 
XIII. preceding. 



How to Grow Them 



245 



The First Year 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



PRUNING AND CARE OF THE VINE.* 



MOST of the varieties of vinifcra grown 
in California at present thrive under the 
short pruning system. There are exceptions, 
however, which will be noted later. The preva- 
lence of the short pruning system frees our 
growers from the expense and inconvenience 
of trellises. Though in the early years of the 
vines stakes are used, our older vines stand 
by themselves and are as independent of sup- 
ports as our fruit trees. The vines are, in 
fact, shaped upon something the same model 
as our fruit trees, the so-called "goblet form" 
of the French being our prototype. 

THE FIRST YEAR. 

During the summer of the year the vines 
are planted, no pruning or training of any 
kind is needed in most cases. For this reason 
it is nearly always unnecessary to stake the 
vines when they are planted. The only ex- 
ception to this is when strong-rooted vines 
are planted in a rich, moist soil in which they 
will make a very large growth the first year. 
In this case it is desirable, though not quite 
necessary, to stake the vines immediately 
after planting to adopt the method of summer 
treatment described below for the second 
year. 

In most cases it is best to allow all shoots 
to remain to feed the vine and to insure a 
good root growth the first year. 

Staking. — In the autumn or winter follow- 
ing planting, the vines should be staked, 
either before or after pruning, but in any 
case some time before the buds start in the 
spring. 

The kind of stake used will depend on the 
variety of vine and on the method of prun- 
ing to be ultimately adopted. For ordinary 



The detailed instructions and accompanyine illustrations 
in this chapter are taken from the excellent writings of Mr. F. 
T. Bioletti for the California Experiment Station, and embodv 
the teachings of lonu experience and wide observation. 



short-pruning, the stake should be of such 
length that, after being driven into the 
ground, sufficient will be below the surface 
to keep it firm and prevent its being loosened 
by the force of the wind acting on the vine 
which is tied to it, and sufficient above the 
surface to extend one or two inches above 
the height at which it is intended to head 
the vines. It should be from one and one- 
quarter to one and one-half inches square, 
according to the length. 

In firm ground, for small-growing vines 
such as Zinfandel, a stake i 1-4 by i 1-4 
inches and 27 inches long will be sufficient. 
This will allow 15 inches to be driven into the 
ground and leave 12 inches above, which is 
enough for vines to be headed at 10 inches. 
If the ground is loose or sandy a 30-inch 
stake driven 18 inches into the ground will be 
needed. For strong-growing varieties, such 
as Carignane or Tokay, especially when 
planted in rich soil, a stake i 1-2 by i 1-2 
inches and 36 inches long will be necessary, 
and 15 or 18 inches of this should be left 
above the ground. This will permit the head- 
ing of the vines at 15 inches. 

If the vines are to be trellised with one 
wire, a 36-inch stake driven 18 inches into 
the ground is the proper length. If two vires 
are to be used, a 48-inch stake will be needed, 
leaving 30 inches above the surface. 

If the vines are to be pruned long and the 
canes tied to the stake, a 3-foot stake will 
usually be needed, and this must be stronger, 
2 by 2 inches square. This stake should be 
driven 2 feet into the ground. 

These dimensions are all smaller than are 
usual in California, but are quite sufficient for 
all practical purposes. The stake should be 
placed I to 2 inches from the vine on the 
side opposite to the prevailing heavy winds. 
The force of the wind will thus keep the vine 
pressed against the stake and the tying ma- 
terial is less liable to break. 



First Winter Pruninq- 



246 



California Fruits : 



First Winter Pruning. — In California, 
the young vines may be pruned at any time 
after the leaves have fallen, except in sections 
very subject to spring frosts, where it is some- 
times advisable to defer the pruning until 
after the top buds of the canes start. 

The way the vines are to be pruned will de- 
pend altogether on the growth they have made. 
If the growth has been small the tops are 
pruned exactly like rooted vines before plant- 
ing. All the canes are removed entirely, ex- 
cept the strongest, and this is cut back to two 
buds (see Fig. i, a). 



the stake. In this case the vine must be 
pruned like a weak vine — that is, thinned 
to one cane and this cane cut back to two 
buds. 

In no case should tzco canes of any length 
be left, and in all cases where it is impossible 
to obtain the full length of well-ripened wood 
for tying up, the cane should be cut back to 
two buds. It is very bad practice to leave 
some of the canes of intermediate length, as 
this causes the vines to head out at various 
heights and produces an irregularity of shape 
which can never be remedied and which inter- 





Fig. I. Treatment of an average vine during second season, 
a. Winter pruning. 



Any vines which have made a strong 
growth and possess at least one cane of 
which a sufficient length is well ripened may 
be pruned for tying up. All the canes are re- 
moved entirely, except the strongest, and 
this is cut back to lo, 15, or 18 inches, ac- 
cording to the height at which it is intended 
to head the vine (see Fig. 2, a). The top 
cut is made through a bud, just as in 
making cuttings. This will facilitate tying 
up and insure the healthy growth of the top 
bud. 

Sometimes, even when the vine has made 
sufficient growth, the canes are prostrate or 
crooked and none can be tied uo straight to 



feres with regular pruning, cultivation and 
other vineyard work. 

The idea to be kept in mind is to cut back 
each winter nearly to the ground — that is, 
to two buds — until a cane is produced with 
a length of well-ripened wood and good buds 
equal to the height at which the vine is to be 
headed. It is very important that this cane 
should be straight, healthy, and well-ripenetl, 
as it is from it that the trunk of the mature 
vine develops. All the vines on which a cane 
lias been left should be carefully tied up. Two 
ties will be needed in most cases. A half 
hitch should be made around the cane below 
the swelling left by the Inid which has been 



How to Grow Them 



247 



Second Year 



removed, and the cane tied firmly to the top of 
the stake. Another tie is made about half-way 
down the stake. The lower tie need not be 
very tig-ht, and in any case the tying material 
should not be passed completely around the 
cane, except above the top bud, or the vine 
will be strangled when it commences to grow 
(see Fig. 2, a). Any kind of string or twine, 
sufficiently strong to withstand the .pressure 
of the growing vine in a heavy wind, may be 
used. Binding twine, or a single strand of 



will be necessary to go over the vineyard four 
or five times to do the suckering, topping, and 
tying which are necessary. 

The shoots starting from the vines which 
have been cut back to two buds should be 
thinned to a single one. This thinning should 
be done as soon as possible in such a way 
that it is never necessary to remove a shoot 
more than 3 or 4 inches long (see Fig. i, b). 
If the thinning is deferred until the shoots are 
a foot or more long the vine will be weak- 




Fig. 2. Treatment of average vine during the third season, or of a vigorous vine during the second. 



vine pruned to one cane and lied to stake. 
Removal of sucker (S) and lower shoots (W) 
vine in summer at time of pinctiing. 



good baling rope, is suitable. No. 16 or 17 
galvanized wire is preferred by some and is 
better than string, if care is taken to remove 
the bottom ties the following year before they 
strangle the vine. Wire is a little more ex- 
pensive and takes a little longer to put on 
than string, but holds the vines better and 
can be used for several years. 

SECOND YEAR. 
Summer Pruning. — The treatment during 
the second and third spring and summer is of 
great importance to the future welfare of the 
vine. A little judicious care at this period 
will avert manv troubles in later vears. It 



ened by the removal of so much foliage. If 
the thinning can not be done early, it is 
better not to do it at all. The object of this 
thinning is to throw all the force and growth 
of the vine into the cane which is to form 
finally the trunk of the vine. If it is done 
too late not only does the growth not go into 
this cane, but the vine is weakened so much 
that this cane does not grow so well as it 
would have done without thinning. 

The first thinning can be done with the 
first hoeing, and the second with the sucker- 
ing. The suckering consists of the removal 
of all shoots whicli come from below the 
ground. These also should be removed as 



Suckering and Topping 



248 



California Fruits : 



early as practicable, both to avoid weakening 
the vine Idv the removal of mature leaves and 
also because a young sucker is much more 
easily separated from the vine at this time. 
Every sucker must be cut or broken off at 
the point where it originates." If a little piece 
of the sucker is left, several new suckers will 
start at the same place. The more completely 
the suckering is done during the iirst two 
years, the less trouble in this respect there 



during the summer. Strong-growing vines 
in rich soil, however, should be topped. 

Topping. — The object of this is to force 
the shoot to send out laterals at the right 
height above the surface of the soil, to be 
used as spurs during the following year. This 
topping is an operation which requires a good 
deal of .judgment. If the topping is done too 
soon, laterals will not start, but a new ter- 




/J>^^ 



Fig. 3. Three-year-old vines after pruning. 

Average vine with two spurs. 

vigorous vines with three spurs, the lowest of which is to be removed the followi 

vigorous vine with three spurs. 



will be in later years. This is particularly 
true of grafted vines. 

A few weeks after the first tliinning, the 
single snoot which has been left will have 
grown 10 or 15 inches. At this length it 
should be tied up to the stake (see Fig. \, c). 
If this tying is neglected or deferred too 
long, a heavy wind is very liable to break off 
the whole shoot. A piece of string tied 
rather loosely about the middle of the shoot 
is all that is needed. If the vines are to be 
headed high (18 inches) another tie near 
the top of the stake may be necessary later. 

For vines which are making only a moder- 
ate growth this is all the treatment needed 



minal shoot will be formed. This is not a 
serious defect, however, but simply necessitates 
a second topping two or three weeks later. 
Neither will the laterals start if the topping 
is done too late, or if they start they will not 
mature, and the vine is weakened by the re- 
moval of foliage without any compensating 
advantage. 

Until experience has shown the proper 
time for the variety and locality, it is best to 
top when the shoot has grown to from 8 
to 12 inches above the top of the stake, and 
if necessary top again later. 

The shoot should be topped within i or 2 
inches of the top of the stake, if the stakes 



How to Grow Them 



249 



Third Year 



have been chosen and driven as advised 
above (see Fig. i, c). This will insure the 
growth of laterals just where they are 
needed for the next winter pruning. 

The vines on which a cane has been left 
and tied up during the preceding winter must 
be treated a little differently. The removal 
of underground shoots or suckers is the same. 
Instead of thinning out the shoots to a single 
one, as for the vines just described, all the 
shoots should be left to grow, except those 
too near the ground (see Fig. 2. b). 




Fig. 4. An ideal three-year-old vine after pruning. 

As a rule, all shoots between the ground 
and the middle of the stakes should be taken 
off. It is even more important that this 
should be done early than in the case de- 
scribed above. If the lower shoots are al- 
lowed to become large and then removed, 
not only is the vine weakened by the removal 
of mature leaves, but the stem of the vine is 
suddenly exposed to the direct rays of the hot 
sun and is very liable to injury. This injury 
does not show by a peeling off of the bark 
as with fruit trees, but by a general weaken- 
ing and dwarfing of the vine. 



The shoots coming from the upper half of 
the cane are to form the spurs for the fol- 
lowing winter pruning, and can often be left 
to grow without further treatment. 

If the growth is very rapid and succulent, 
however, it is necessary to pinch them, or the 
first heavy wind may break them of? (see 
Fig. 2, c). 

Pinching consists of the removal of i or 2 
inches of growth at the extreme tip of the 
shoot. This delays the growth in k-ugth 
temporarily aiid gives the shoot time to 
strengthen its tissues before its length gives 
too much leverage to the wind. This pinch- 
ing usually has to be repeated at least once. 

Pinching may be replaced by topping a 
few weeks later, but the latter is somewhat 
weakening to the vine. 

In all summer pruning — that is, removal 
of green shoots and leaves — of young vines, 
two things should be kept in mind: First, 
that all summer pruning is weakening; sec- 
ond, that the object of summer pruning of 
young vines is to direct the growth as much 
as possible into those parts which are to be- 
come permanent portions of the mature vine. 
The weakening effect is almost nil if the 
shoots or tips are . removed when they are 
very small, but may be very serious if large 
shoots are removed or heavily topped. 
When a large shoot covered with leaves 
is removed it is a total loss to the vine. 
When a small shoot is removed the food 
materials which would have gone into that 
shoot are diverted to the shoots that remain, 
and the vigor and size of the latter are in- 
creased. 

THIRD YEAR. 

Winter Pruning. — After the leaves have 
fallen at the end of the third summer every 
vine should have a well-formed, straight stem 
with two, three, or more canes growing from 
the upper part, and the formation of the 
"head" or crown should commence. Any 
vines which have not been brought to this 
condition must be pruned like two or one- 
year-old vines, as the case may be. 

If the work up to this point has been well 
done, the formation of the head is a simple 
matter. It consists in leaving two. three, or 
four spurs, arranged as s\Tnmetrically as pos- 
sible near the top of the vine. The stronger 
the vine, as evidenced by the number, length. 



Lono- Pruninsf 



250 



California Fruits : 



and thickness of the canes, the larger the 
number of spurs and buds that should be left. 
A spur consists of the basal portion of a 
cane, and normally of two full internodes. 
This leaves two buds besides the base bud. 
The number of buds to leave on a spur de- 
pends on the strength or thickness of the cane 
from which the spur is made. A thin, or 




Fig. 5. Shewing method of bending fruit canes to 
insure growth of shoots froin replacing spurs. 

weak, cane should be cut back to one bud or 
even to the base bud. A strong cane, on the 
other hand, should be left with three buds 
besides the base bud. 

The pruning of each vine requires judg- 
ment, and it is impossible to give an inflexible 
rule to follow. The ideal of a perfect vine 



should be kept in mind and each vine pruned 
as nearly in accordance with this ideal as 
circumstances permit. Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 rep- 
resent nearly perfect three-year-old vines 
cotisisting of two or three symmetrically 
placed spurs of two buds each near the top 
of the stem. 

Sometimes it is necessary to leave a spur 
lower down (see Fig. 3, fc). This spur will 
be removed the following year after it has 
produced two or three bunches of grapes. 
Sometimes a vine may be very vigorous but 
have only two canes properly placed for mak- 
ing spurs. In this case the spurs should 
be left longer — three buds and even in ex- 
treme cases four buds long. 

In stump pruning there is a difference of 
practice as to low heading according to lo- 
cality. In the interior regions the vine is now 
headed almost at the surface of the ground ; 
in the coast regions there is usually a stump 
of one to two feet or more. As with trees 
so with vines, the practice is to prune to 
make lower heads than during the early 
years of California fruit growing. 

Long Pruning. — Some varieties grown 
for market and for raisin making do not 
thrive if pruned by the short-spur system. 
Notable among these are the Sultana, Sul- 
tanina, (Thompson's Seedless), Emperor and 
Sabalskanski. There are also a number of 
wine varieties which must be pruned long. 
Whatever the variety of vine and whatever 
the system of pruning to be ultiinately adopt- 
ed, the treatment for the first two and even 
three years is practically identical and is that 
which has already been described in detail. 

Long pruning admits of degrees, but it 
usually signifies using a five or six instead of 
a four-foot stake and leaving the selected 
canes from eighteen inches to three feet or 
longer instead of cutting back to two or three 
Inids, as in short pruning. These long canes 
are securely tied to the long stakes. 

With varieties needing long pruning the 
first two or three buds next the old wood 
do not bear fruit, hence the need of leaving 
buds farther removed from the old wood to 
secure it. This habit of the vine invites the 
practice of growing a long cane for fruit 
and at the same time providing for wood 
growth for the following year's fruiting 
by cutting another cane from the saine spur 
down to two or three buds. By this practice 



How to Gro\v Them 



251 



Different Methods 



the wood which has borne the fruit is cut 
back to a bud each winter and the cane which 
has grown only wood is pruned long for 
the fruit of the following summer. A modi- 
fication of the practice is to prune the canes- 
from some of the spurs long, and from other 
spurs short, thus making the spurs alternate 
from wood bearing to fruit bearing from 
year to year. Unless some method is adopted 
to promote the growth of strong canes from 
near the head of the vine, long pruning be- 



cvery year in a position where it can be util- 
izeil. The first consists in bending the fruit 
canes into a circle, as illustrated in Fig. 5. 
This diminishes the tendency of the sap of 
the vine to go to the end of the fruit canes. 
The consequence is that more shoots start 
on the lower parts of the fruit canes. All 
the shoots on these canes are made weaker 
and more fruitful by the bending, and at the 
same time the sap pressure is increased and 
causes strong shoots to start from the wood- 




Fig. 6. Showing method of pruning trellised Sultanina vines. 



comes unsatisfactory. According to the 
cominon way with those vines which are 
known to require longer canes for satisfactory 
bearing, such canes are selected when the 
vine is well established and two, three, four, 
or more canes four or five feet long are tied 
up vertically to a high stake. This process 
is repeated the next year and the next, and 
the result is, with the Sultanina at least, that 
after the second or third year all the bearing 
wood is at the top of the stake, and the vine 
must be pruned short again or suckers and 
watersprouts left as long canes. Neither way 
is satisfactory. 

Two methods have been successfully used 
to insure the growth of new fruit wood 



spurs left near the bases of the fruit canes. 
These shoots are used for fruit canes at the 
following winter pruning, and new wood 
spurs are then left for the next year. 

The tying and bending of the fruit canes 
require great care, and repeated suckering 
and removal of watersprouts are necessary to 
insure a strong growth of replacing canes on 
the wood spurs. This method can be used 
successfully only by skillful hands. 

The other method requires some forrti of 
trellis. The most practicable trellis is a wire 
stretched along the rows at about i 1-2 or 
2 feet above the surface of the soil. For 
very vigorous vines in rich soil a second 
wire 12 inches above the first is advisable. 



Summer Care of Vines 



252 



California Fruits 



The pruning is the same as for the method 
just described. The fruit canes, however, 
instead of being bent in a circle and tied to 
the stake, are placed in a horizontal position 
and tied to the wire. The horizontal position 
has the same effect as curving in promoting 
the starting of more shoots on the fruit canes 
and the consequent production of more 
bunches of grapes. At the same time the 
buds on the wood spurs are forced to start, 
and not being shaded they tend to grow vig- 
orously. It is best to tie the shoots from the 
wood spurs in a vertical position to the 
stake, and they should not be topped. This sys- 
tem of pruning is not only theoretically cor- 
rect, but is easy to explain to pruners, and 
can be carried out much more perfectly than 
the first method with ordinary labor. 

Whatever system of winter pruning is 
adopted with the Sultanina, careful summer 
pruning, suckering, sprouting, and topping 
are necessary for the best results. This vari- 
ety has a tendency to send out large numbers 
of suckers from below ground and water- 
sprouts from the old wood. These shoots are 
usually sterile, grow vigorously, and unless 
removed in time divert the energies of the 
vine from the fruit and fruit shoots. Two 
or three times during the spring the vine- 
yard should be gone over carefully and all 
sterile shoots which are not needed to balance 
the vine or to replace weak or missing arms 
should be removed. This removal of shoots 
should be done in such a way that no shoot 
longer than 12 inches is ever removed. If 
the watersprouts are allowed to grow large 
their removal weakens the vine. The shoots 
which are to give fruit canes for the follow- 
ing year should not be topped. The shoots 
from the horizontal fruit canes on the trel- 
lises, however, will set their fruit better and 
are less likely to be broken by the wind if 
they are pinched or topped early. 

SUMMER PRUNING AND SUCKERING. 

Summer pruning or topping of bearing 
vines is usually practised. Some follow the 
pinching process, by which the terminal of 
the growing cane is nipped off with the 
thumb and finger when it has grown out 
about two feet. Others wait longer and then 
slash off the ends of the canes with a sickle. 
The tendency is to leave summer pruning 
until too late and to slash off wood indis- 



criminately, to the injury of the vine. Sum- 
mer pruning, if done early enough, and this 
would be while the growth is still soft at 
the point of removal, will induce the growth 
"of laterals and will shade and improve the 
fruit, and at the same time thicken the growth 
of the main cane and strengthen its connec- 
tion with the spur. Slashing of canes too 
late in the season deprives the fruit of the 
service of enough leaf surface for the elabora- 
tion of the sap, often seriously checks the 
growth of the vine, and in hot regions in- 
duces sunburn. The first summer pruning 
should be done soon after the bloom, but not 
during blooming. The second could take 
place whenever the canes or laterals extend 
beyond the length necessary to shade the 
grapes. 

Suckering is an important process and 
usually has to be attended to at least twice 
in the season. It consists in removing all 
shoots from old wood which are not provided 
for at the previous winter pruning. The 
growth of these suckers takes sap which 
should go to the other canes. All such shoots 
should be rubbed or pulled off while they are 
still soft ; if a sucker puts out at a point 
where it would be desirable to have a spur 
to balance the head of the vine, it should 
of course be allowed to grow, to be cut back 
to two buds the following winter. By such 
selection of suckers new spurs are secured to 
replace old and failing ones. 

GENERAL NOTES ON PRUNING. 

Longer or shorter pruning produces effects 
not only upon the amount and early ripening 
of the fruit of certain varieties, but upon 
quality, as shown in the wine. Such effects 
have to be discerned by local observation. 

It is a very difficult matter to lay down 
any rule for pruning a vineyard, so much 
depends on the age of the vines, the differ- 
ent varieties, and the quality of the soil. A 
basis on which to build a theory on the sub- 
ject might be found in and through an under- 
standing of the quantity of grapes that may 
be expected from a vine, as the secret of 
pruning is to keep a just medium between 
the production of grapes to the injury of the 
vine and its wood and an overproduction of 
wood to the detriment of the crop. In older 
vines a proportion should be maintained be- 
tween the vigor of the vines and the crop 



How to Grow Them 



253 



Diseases of the Vine 



desired ; each bud may be considered good 
for two bunches of grapes the ordinary size, 
and upon this estimate may be obtained. It 
must be borne in mind that the result of 
overloading the vine is detrimental to its 
vigor and health, while the reverse will not 
injure it, but will lessen the profits for that 
season, often giving greatly increased" re- 
turns in after years. 

Close attention should be given to the 
grow'th of the wood and fruit of the pre- 
ceding year. If the canes are very large 
and the bunches of grapes poor and there 
are many suckers, it indicates that more eyes 
are necessary. On the contrary, if the canes 
are small, and the buwches of grapes numer- 
ous and straggling, and the ripening not 
even, it indicates that the number of eyes left 
should be less. 

Pruning may be regulated to produce a 
good second crop of grapes or to prevent 
the formation of a second crop. The second 
crop is often desirable in raisin and table 
varieties, but undesirable in wine varieties. 

Attention should be paid to the tools used 
in pruning. Let the blades be kept sharp 
and thin ; large shears are very apt to bruise 
the wood more than small ones. 

Pruning is done after the fall of the leaves 
and before the swelling of the buds, usually 
in January and February. Early pruning has 
a tendency to make the vines start growth 
early, consequently in frosty situations prun- 
ing is often deferred till late in the winter — 
as late as the middle of March in some cases. 
In such situations it is advised to leave more 
buds at pruning, so if the frost kills the first 
first shoots there are buds below to make later 
growth. This practice has been followed 
with marked advantage in some regions liable 
to late spring frosts. 

The treatment of vines injured by spring 
frosts is clearly the immediate removal, by a 
sharp downward jerk, of the frosted shoots. 
P. C. Rossi, a large vineyardist, recites this 
experience, both in the San Joaquin and San- 
ta Rosa Valleys : 

We had all the vines affected by frost entirely 
stripped of the damaged shoots, and we had the 
pleas\ire of seeing that, in a short time after, all the 
dormant buds came out finely, with their regular 
two bunches of grapes ; therefore we have lost only 
one-third of the crop. In order to make careful 
experiment we left a row of vines untouched, and 
the result proved that the vines that were not stripped 
did not do as well as the others, as the dormant 



buds in luany cases did not come out, and those that 
came out were not healthy and strong, and hardly 
had any grapes. The damaged shoots that were 
not removed died gradually, and at the junction with 
the cane new shoots came out without any grapes at 
all. The result clearly proves that we will have fully 
two-thirds of the crop out of the frost-bitten vines 
which were stripped of the damaged canes, while 
we had hardly any first crop and only a second crop 
on the vines which were not attended to. 

DISEASES OF THE VINE. 

One of the most prevalent diseases of the 
vine in California is caused by a fungus which 
allfects leaves, canes, and berries, and is lo- 
cally known as "mildew." This disease is 
recognized by grayish white coloring of the 
affected leaves, which, as the disease pro- 
gresses, shrivel and dry up ; the young cane 
also blackens and dries, and the berries show 
whitish patches, which become darker colored 
and the berries crack open. The usual rem- 
edy for the trouble is finely-ground or sub- 
limed sulphur applied several times during 
the season, as will he described in the chap- 
ter on diseases of trees and vines. 

The Bordeaux Mixture and other copper 
preparations are sometimes useful upon 
grape-vines, as will be cited in the chapter 
on plant diseases. 

CouLURE. — A frequent misfortune of the 
vine, and for which no remedy is yet known, 
is coulure. a term signifying the failure of 
the fruit to set or to remain on the cluster. 
This occurs in varying degrees from the loss 
of a few berries to the almost complete clear- 
ing of fruit from the stem. It is worse with 
some varieties than others and in some lo- 
calities than others. The trouble is believed 
to arise from various causes. 

There is, also, occurring with more or less 
frequency, a reddening and death of the 
vine leaves, supposed to .be identical with 
the trouble known to the French as "rouge- 
ole.'' The leaves show light-colored spots 
at first, which afterward turn red and finally 
involve the whole leaf or cane, and sometimes 
the whole vine. It usually occurs in mid- 
summer, and is not necessarily fatal in its 
effects. 

Root Knot. — An evil occurring on the 
main stem of the vine, generally near the 
surface of the ground, is an excrescence of 
woody character commonly called "black 
knot." There has been much discussion as 
to the cause of this abnormal grow^th, without 



Anaheim Disease 



254 



California Fruits 



■;• .>"'' ■ 


1 


%^#^'^ 


' 


"^^f^^^^^^^L 


i 


" "' ^^^^^^^HHjHbP^ 




9 «a>.^ •«jHL'lil^?aP^^'''^Hp^f 


i 




'^&S»Wi 


i 








1 »^» '**^^H| 




..M.itSI^^'^^i^SSSS^-H^ 




f ^'^mmS^ - 


/ 




/ /-^ 








E 


""^' .'' •ii 






"i. ''s;'^-;- 



Instance of large bearing by long pruning. 



full agreement among observers. Some at- 
tribute the knots to injuries to the stump in 
cultivation, others to outbursts of sap which 
the short pruning system does not give top 
growth enough to dispose of, and to various 
other causes. This is analogous to the "crown 
knot" of fruit trees which will be mentioned 
in the chapter on plant diseases. 



Anaheim Disease. — There has prevailed 
for several years in California a mysterious 
disease of the vine known as the "Anaheim 
disease," because its evil work first appeared 
in that vicinity. It destroyed many thousand 
acres of vines and led to the abandonment 
of grape growing in some regions in south- 
ern California.* 



• The fullest statements concerninE its performance can be found in Bulletin No 2. U S. Dept. of Acriculture. Divison of Veg- 
etable Pathology, by Newton B. Pierce. 1S92, and Farmers' Bulletin No. 30. 1S95. Fortimately during recent years the trouble has 
been less aggressive but neither its nature nor satisfactory treatment has been fully demonstrated. The latest available information 
oncerning it and other troubles of the vine can be had by application to the University Experiment Station at Berkeley. 



How to Grow Them 



255 



Varieties of the Grape 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

GRAPE VARIETIES IN CALIFORNIA. 



LARGE collections of grape varieties have 
been brought into California during 
the last forty-five years. They were sought 
in all grape countries, and from such wide 
experimental planting a few have survived 
in popular esteem and are now chiefly grown. 



The relative importance of the most popular 
table and raisin grapes is shown in the ac- 
companying tabulation of reports from grow- 
ers secured as described in Chapter XVI, re- 
lating to the relative standing of orchard 
fruit varieties. These growers were asked 



Grape varieties approved by California growers. 



Central Sacramento 

GR.\PES coast valley and 

valleys. foothills. 

Muscat, * »,j 

Tokay ^ ,, 

Cornichon ' , ^,^, 

Sultanina (Thompson) ^, ^^, 

Emperor f.^, 

Malaga „ ,^, 

Rose of Peru „,, 

Black Morocco « „ 

Verdal ^, 

Sultana ,, 

Mission » ^ 

Black Hamburg , ^ 

Black Ferrara . . .... , 

Gros Colman .... 

Zabalkanski .... 

Palomino „ ,j 

Sweetwater ^ ,,, 

Pierce f, .... 

Concord » .... 

Delaware , 

Niagara f, 

Campbell's Early .... 

Agawam .... .... 

• Indicates that the variety is approved in the region designated. 
** Most highly commended. 



Being derived from ditJerent countries, they 
came bearing many names. Some of these 
have been preserved, some wholly lost, and 
replaced with local appellations. The result 
is that our grape nomenclature is full of con- 
fusion. Some varieties have been identified 
by the means of the standard French grape 
literature ; others are apparently unknown to 
the compilers of that literature. It is, there- 
fore, impossible today to determine a number 
of our most popular table and shipping 
grapes, as well as some of the wine varieties. 



to name the grapes which they considered 
best worth planting in 1908. 

The last six named are grapes of popular 
eastern types. They are of exceedingly 
small commercial importance and are chiefly 
grown in Southern California : not because 
eastern varieties are better suited to local 
conditions there than in other ]iarts of the 
state but because there are more people who 
enjoy them. 

In order to characterize our leading table 
grapes, descriptions will be quoted from the 
best available local authorities, as follows : 



Varieties 



256 



California Fruits 



Early Black July, syns. Madeleine, Madeline Noir, 
etc. — "Leaves rather small, light green above and be- 
neath ; bnnches small and compact ; berries small. 



White July: syn. Luglienga. — "Vine strong-grow- 
ing and sensitive to frost ; leaves of medium size, 
deeply five-lobed, dark green, glabrous on both sides, 




Giu:. Colman. 



quite round; skin thick, black, covered with a blue sharply toothed, the terminal tooth of each lobe 

bloom; flavor moderately sweet, but not rich nor very long and acuminate; bunches of medium size, 

perfumed. The earliest grape, and chiefly valued for well filled; berries of medium size, oval, at first 

dessert on that account." — Hvatt. green, becoming yellow with overripeness, with 



How to Grow Them 



257 



Varieties 



thin skin, crisp, firm flesh, and agreeable flavor." — 
Bioletti. The Luglienga. which means July grape, 
is one of the earhest grapes known. 

Early Madeleine; syn. Madeleine Angevine.— 
"Moderate grower, with long-jointed, brown wood ; 
leaf medium, deeply lobed, dark green above, tomen- 
tose below; young points reddish, woolly, slender; 
bunch medium, compact, shouldered ; berry medium, 
oblong, yellowish green, transparent, rather thick 
skin, sweet and juicy. Vine a shy bearer when 
frost is prevalent." — Husmann. 

Chasselas Dore; syn. Fontainebleau, Sweetumter. 
— "A rather vigorous grower, with medium or some- 
what slender canes of a reddish-brown color; young 
shoots of garnet color, nearly or quite glabrous; 
leaves rather below average size, a little longer than 
wide, glabrous above and nearly so below, except 
for a few hairs on the main nerves, with well-marked 
sinuses, the petiolar one often closed, the petiole 
long, rather slender, and rose-colored ; bunches of 
medium or over-medium size, conico-cylindrical, 
sho\ildered. more or less compact: berries medium 
to large, with firm but tender skin, small seeds ; of 
delicate flavor and texture, at first crisp but be- 
coming soft with full maturity. The grapes are of 
a clear green color, tinged with a beautiful golden 
bronze where exposed to the sun." — Bioletti. 

Chassclas Rose. — Fruit resembling foregoing, ex- 
cept that both bunch and berries are usually 
smaller, and flavor is more pronounced. 

Chasselas Victoria. — "Vine vigorous, very short- 
jointed and brittle, and bears well with short prun- 
ing; wood grayish yellow, thick and strong; leaf 
light green, deeply lobed and shining; young shoots 
with numerous laterals ; bunch very large and heavy, 
often weighing five pounds, shouldered, very com- 
pact ; stem brown, very thick ; berry medium, round, 
pale lilac purple, with lilac bloom, juicy, vinous, re- 
freshing." — Husmann. 

Palomino; syn. Golden Chassclas. — "The vine 
quite largely grown as "Golden Chasselas" is un- 
doubtedly identical with the Listan, or Palomino." 
— Hilgard. Vine a fair grower; wood close- 
jointed ; leaf medium, oblong, deeply lobed, bright 
green above, grayish green and tomentose below; 
stem short, young points with reddish tint and 
woolly ; bunch large, conical, rather loose and shoul- 
dered ; berry round, full medium, sometimes flat, pale 
green with yellowish tinge; thin skin, juicy and 
sweet, resembling Chasselas." — Husmann. 

Black Malvoise. — "Vine a strong grower ; wood 
long-jointed, rather slender, light brown; leaf me- 
dium size, oval, rather evenly and deeply five-lobed ; 
basal sinus moderately open, with parallel sides, 
upper surface smooth, almost glabrous, lower surface 
lightly tomentose on the veins and veinlets ; bunches 
large, rather loose, branching; berries large, oblong, 
reddish black with faint bloom ; flesh juicy, flavor 
neutral." — Hilgard. Widely grown as an early table 
grape. 

Mission. — "This variety, grown at the old mis- 
sions, has never been determined, nor its exact 
source ascertained. It is by some regarded as a 
most delicious table grape. It can be found in small 



areas in every county of the State adapted to the 
grape. Vine a strong grower; wood short- 
jointed, dull dark brown to grayish; leaf 
above medium size, slightly oblong, with large, 
deeply-cut, compound teeth, basal sinus widely 
open, primary sinuses shallow and narrow, secondary 
sinuses ill-defined, smooth on both sides, light green 
below with light, scattered tomentum." — Hilgard. 
"Bunches slightly shouldered, loose, divided 
into many small, distinct lateral clusters; 
berries medium size, round, purple black, heavy 
bloom; exceedingly sweet, juicy, and delicious; seeds 
rather large; skin th.m."— Hyatt. 

Muscatel; syn. White Frontignan. — "Vine of me- 
dium size, with strong, spreading canes ; canes red- 
dish-brown, with short internodes; leaves of me- 
dium size, thin, five-lobed, glabrous, except for a few 
hairs on the lower side of the well-marked ribs; 
bunches long, cylindrical, regular, compact ; berries 
round, golden-yellow, becoming amber-colored, very 
sweet and of marked aroma. Ripens a little later 
than the Chasselas." — Bioletti. 

White Muscat of Alexandria.* — "Vine a short, 
rather straggling and bushy grower, well adapted 
to short stool pruning, as it forms rather a bush 
than a vine ; wood gray, with dark spots, short- 
jointed; leaf round, five-lobed, bright green above, 
lighter green below ; young shoots a bright green. 
The laterals produce a second and even a third 
crop; bunch long and loose, shouldered; berry ob- 
long, light yellov.- when fi\'' - mature, transparent, 
covered with white bloom, fleshy, with thick skin, 
very sweet and decidedly musky." — Husmann. The 
leading table grape of California. Rejected for 
irregular bearing on some mesa lands in southern 
.California. 

Muscatel Gordo Blanco. — "Muscatel Gordo Blanco 
has a closer bunch and rounder berry than the Mus- 
cat. The skin is softer and the pulp is not quite 
so hard. The berry inclines to be a little darker 
in color and not nearly so green when it is ripe, 
and I think not quite as long as the Muscat of 
.Alexandria. If the Muscat would set as well as the 
Muscatel, the difficulty would be obviated. One 
very important difference is that when you come to 
dry them, the Muscat of Alexandria loses the bloom 
very rapidly. The bloom comes off when you come 
to dry and pack them. But the Muscatel does not 
lose its bloom. The Muscat of Alexandria has to 
be dried a little more than the Muscatel to bring 
it into a keeping condition under the same con- 
dition of ripeness." — R. B. Blowers. 

"The growth of the Muscatel or Gordo Blanco 
vine is low and spreading, with no upright branches 
in the center; clusters heavy, and, when perfect, 
close and shouldered; berries round and large (the 
greatest circumference being at the center), a 
crease often being found at the apex of the berry; 
color green, or, when fully ripe, amber green or 
yellow. Distinguished from Muscat of Alexandria 
by low, depressed growth of vine, closer cluster. 



• There is mvich doubt about the White Muscat.s as grown in 
California. Some claim inability to distin£:uish between certain 
grapes of the Muscat type which are being grown in this State 
under distinctive names: others pronounce them clearly different 
varieties. The matter cannot be adjusted at present. 



Varieties 



258 



California Fruits 



rounder berries, and by thicker and finer bloom. 
The Muscatel is the choice raisin grape for the San 
Joaquin Valley, and for the interior generally." — 
Dr. Eisen. 

Huasco Muscat. — A variety brought from Chile, 
but after wide trial in California, seems not su- 
perior to the other White Muscat varieties pre- 
viously mentioned. Ttc; dense cluster is not well 
adapted to raisin making. It is held, however, to 
be less subject to coulure. 

Fehcr Scagos. — "Vine a strong grower and heavy 
bearer; branches erect but slender; leaves glossy, 
entire ; bunches medium to small, pointed, and solid ; 
berries greenish amber, medium oval, pointed, with 
thin skin and few stnall seeds ; flesh not firm, but 
dries well and makes a .good raisin." — Dr. Eiscn. 

Larga Bloom; syn. Uva Larga. — A variety of 
Muscat said to be named because of the length 
of its berries, but held by some growers to be in- 
distinguishable from Muscatel Gordo Blanco. An 
excellent raisin grape, but now chiefly grown as a 
table fruit in the Santa Cruz Mountains. 

JVIiifc Malaga. — "Vine a strong grower; wood 
reddish brown, short-jointed; leaf medium, leathery 
smooth, deeply lobed, light shining green above; 
bunch very large, loose, shouldered, long; stem 
long and flexible ; berry very large, oval, yellowish 
green, covered with white bloom ; thick skin, 
fleshy." — Husmann. Grown in southern California 
in situations where the Muscat does not do well ; 
also elsewhere as a table grape, and to some e.\- 
tent in San Joaquin Valley for raisins. 

Sultana: syn. Seedless Sultana. — "Vine vigorous, 
upright; leaves large, five-lobed, with rather large 
sinuses, light colored, and coarsely toothed; bunches 
large, long-cylindrical, with heavy shoulders or 
wings, well filled when not cultured, but not com-' 
pacted ; berries small, round firm and crisp, golden- 
yellow, and without seeds." — Bioletti. In California 
the variety is apt to have some seeds. It has more 
acid, and therefore greater piquancy of flavor, than 
Thompson's Seedless, but the latter has recently 
far outstripped it in popularity among growers. 

Thompson's Seedless. — Named by Sutter County 
Horticultural Society, after W. Thompson, Sr., of 
Yuba City, who procured the cutting in 1878, from 
Ellwanger & Barry, of Rochester, New York. It 
was by them described as "a grape from Constan- 
tinople, named Lady Decoverly." When it fruited 
in Sutter County, it was seen to be superior to the 
Sultana, and has been propagated largely. It was 
first widely distributed by J. P. Onstott of Yuba City, 
and others, and is now to be found in all parts of 
the State. The variety is described by Dr. Eisen 
as follows: "Oval; greenish-yellow; as large as a 
Sultana; seedless, with a thin skin; good, but not 
strong flavor, and without that acid which char- 
acterizes the Sultana grape and raisin ; bunches 
large or very large; vine an enormous bearer." 
Mr. Bioletti considers the variety identical with the 
Sultanina of Asia Minor, and gives this description : 
"Vine very vigorous and with large trunk and very 
long canes ; leaves glabrous on both sides, dark 
yellowish-green above and light below, generally 
three-lobed, with shallow sinuses, teeth short and 
obtuse, bunch large, conico-cvlindrical, well filled, on 
herbaceous peduncles; berries under medium, el- 



lipsoidal, crisp, of neutral flavor, with moderately 
thick skin of a fine golden-yellow color." 

Flame Tokay; syns. Flame-colored Tokay, Flam- 
ing Tokay. — "Vine a strong grower, large in all its 
proportions, wood, joints, leaves; wood dark brown, 
straight, with long joints ; leaves dark green, with 
a brownish tinge; lightly lobed; bunch- very large, 
sometimes weighing eight to nine pounds, moderately 
compact, shouldered ; berry very large, oblong, red, 
covered with fine lilac bloom ; fleshy and crackling, 
firm; ripens late." — Husmann. The leading ship- 
ping grape of the State, quality low. Defective in 
color in some localities. 

Black Hamburg. — "Bunches very large, from six 
to ten inches in length, very broad at the shoulders, 
tapering to a point gradually; berries very large, 
round, slightly inclining to oval ; skin rather thick, 
deep purple, very black at maturity; very sugary, 
juicy, and rich." — Hyatt. A very popular market 
grape. 

Rose of Peru; syn. Black Prince (?). — "Vine a 
strong grower, with dark brown, short-jointed wood; 
leaf deep green above, lighter green and tomentose 
below ; bunch very large, shouldered, rather loose ; 
berry round, large, black, with firm and crackling 
flesh, ripens rather late ; a very handsome and pro- 
ductive variety, of good quality, but not adapted 
for long shipment." — Husmann. 

Moscatello Fine; syns. Moscatcllo Nero, Black 
Muscat. — "Leaves of medium size, with deep upper 
and shallow lower sinuses, glabrous above, slightly 
downy below, and very hairy on the veins, teeth 
long and sharp ; bunches large to very large, long, 
loose, conico-cylindrical, and winged ; berries very 
large, on long, thin pedicels ; skin well colored, thin 
but tough; flesh soft and juicy, with delicate Mus- 
cat aroma. An excellent table grape. It is a heavy 
bearer, and produces very fine-looking bunches of 
dark colored grapes. Rather late." — Bioletti. 

Purple Damascus ; syn. Black Damascus. — "Vine a 
medium grower ; wood light brown striped with 
darker brown, short-jointed; leaf round, five-lobed, 
smooth, light green above, tomentose beneath ; stem 
reddish, large, long and woody; bunch large, loose, 
shouldered ; berry very large, oblong, dark blue, 
covered with lighter bloom, meaty, skin thick, ripens 
late." — Husmann. 

Purple Cornichon; syn. Black Coniiclion. — "Vine 
a heavy grower, with thick, light brown, short-jointed 
wood ; leaves large, longer than wide, deeply five- 
lobed, dark green above, and lighter and very hairy 
below, coarsely toothed, and with short, thick peti- 
ole ; bunches very large, loose, on long peduncles ; 
berries large, long, more or less curved, darkly 
colored and spotted, thick-skinned, and on long ped- 
icels. Desirable on account of its attractive ap- 
pearance, curious shape, excellent shipping qualities, 
and late ripening." — Bioletti. 

ll'liife Cornichon. — Resembles Purple Cornichon 
in shape and flavor, but has very thin and tender 
skin, which makes it better for the table, but poorer 
for shipping. Leaves not deeply cut; smooth on 
both sides. 

Emperor. — "Vine a strong, vigorous grower; leaves 
very large, with five shallow lobes, short, obtuse 
teeth, glabrous above, woolly beneath, light green in 



How to Grow Them 



259 



Eastern Grapes 



color; bunches very large, lona;, conical, loose, with 
large, dull purple, oval, firm berries." — Biolctti. An 
excellent shipping grape, largely grown by R. B. 
Blowers, of Woodland, Yolo County, by whom its 
merits were first announced. Pronounced unsatis- 
factory because of irregular setting and non-ripen- 
ing in localities near the coast in northern Cali- 
fornia, and generally, condemned in southern Cali- 
fornia. Seems best adapted to interior situations and 
is chiefly grown for shipping in the San Joaquin 
valley. 

Black Fcrrara. — A large black grape : large 
bunches ; berries cling well to the stem, thick- 
skinned, flavor superior. An excellent local market 
variet}* and long-distance shipper. 

Gros Cohnan; syn. Dodrchibi. — "Vine strong- 
growing, with dark brownish wood ; leaves very 
large, round, thick, very slightly lobed, shortly and 
bluntly toothed, glabrous above, close-woolly below ; 
bunches large, short, well filled, but not compact ; 
berries very large, round, dark blue, with thick but 
tender skin. Remarkable as having the largest ber- 
ries of any round berry variety known, and is prob- 
ably the handsomest black table grape grown. The 
grapes have good keeping qualities, except that they 
are liable to crack." — Biolctti. 

Black Morocco. — "Vine a strong grower, with 
thin, spreading canes ; leaves under medium size, 
very deeply five-lobed. even when very young, the 
younger leaves truncate at base, giving them a 
semicircular outline, with long, sharp teeth alternat- 
ing with very small ones, glabrous on both sides ; 
bunches very large, short, shouldered, and compact ; 
berries very large, round, often angular from com- 
pression, fleshy, of neutral flavor, dull purple color 
or colorless in the center of the bunch. Remark- 
able for the number of second-crop bunches which 
it produces on the laterals. Late in ripening and of 
very fine appearance ; a fairly good shipping grape, 
but difficult to pack on account of the size and rigid- 
ity of the bunches. The grapes are of an agreeable 
crispness, but lacking in flavor." — Biolctti. Vine 
quite subject to root knot. 

Vcrdal; Aspiran Blanc. — "Vine of medium vigor 
and rather hardy; canes somewhat slender and half 
erect; leaves of average size, glabrous on both sur- 
faces, except below near the axils of the main 
nerves, sinuses well marked and generally closed, 
giving the leaf the appearance of having five holes ; 
teeth long, unequal, and somewhat acuminate ; 
bunches large to very large, irregular long-conical, 
without any or with small shoulders, well-filled to 
compact; berries yellowish-green, large to very large, 
crisp, with thick but tender skin, agreeable, but 
without marked flavor." — Biolctti. Largely grown as 
a late table grape ; in good condition ; in some regions 
as late as November. 

Almcria. — "Vine vigorous; leaves of medium size, 
round and slightly or not at all lobed, quite glabrous on 
both sides, teeth obtuse and alternately large and 
small : bunches large, loose or compact, irregular 
conical ; berries from small to large, cylindrical, 
flattened on the ends, very hard and tasteless." — 
Biolctti. The grape cultivated at the L^niversity ex- 
periment stations under this name is one of the sev- 



eral varieties which are shipped in such large quan- 
tities from Malaga and Almeria packed in sand or 
cork-dust. The grapes ripen late and attain about 
20.0 per cent of sugar. They have remarkable keep- 
ing qualities. Vine needs long pruning, and is only 
adapted to hot, interior situations. 

There are man}- other linifcra varieties 
which are grown to a limited extent either 
for raisins or for table use. Among these 
are the Canon Hall Muscat, the White Tokay, 
White Champion, Cinsaut, Zabalskanski, etc., 
for table use ; the White and Black Corinth, 
for drying. With grapes, as with other mar- 
ket fruits, the planter usually confines his 
attention to a very few popular kinds. 

E.^STERN GRAPES. 

Though many of the improved varieties 
of the grape species indigenous east of the 
Rockv Mountains, and of the hvbrids between 




The Isabella Regia. 

these species and the vinifcra. have been in- 
troduced in California, their growth for 
table fruit is almost of insignificant pro- 
portions, and does not constitute even a fe- 



Wine Grapes 



260 



California Fruits 



spectable fraction of one per cent of our 
grape area. The popular taste decidedly 
prefers the vinifera varieties. There is, how- 
ever, a variety believed to be of local origin, 
which is worthy of mention as follows : 

Isabella Rcgia. — "A remarkable, giant-leaved, and 
very prolific sport of the Isabella, originating by 
bud-variation with Mr. J. P. Pierce, of Santa Clara. 
The berries, like the leaves, are of extraordinary 
size, and when ripe the fruit is exceedingly sweet and 
strongly aromatic. It is, therefore, acceptable as 
a showy, perfumed table grape, much liked by some, 
but readily surfeiting those who are accustomed to 
the vinifera grapes. The berries are too soft for 
shipment to any distance, but all things considered, 
keep fairly." — Hilgard. Grown as the "California 
Concord" in the Los Angeles region. 



WINE GRAPES GROWN IN 
CALIFORNIA. 

Progress is being continually made in the 
propagation of varieties yielding wine, and in 
the manufacture thereof. The hosts of con- 
siderations involved in this effort are beyond 
the scope of this work and largely beyond 
the writer's knowledge. It is important, how- 
ever, to have an intelligent discussion of the 
suitability of varieties grown for this pur- 
pose, prepared by Mr. F. T. Bioletti, and 
representing his conclusions at the close of 
the year 1907, as follows : 

1. Vineyard for sweet wine in the interior valleys. 

Red- Proportion. 

Grenache ^ 

Alicante Bouschet ^4 

Tinta Maderia H 

white. Proportion. 

Palomino : ^2 

Beba I4 

Boal H 



The Grenache and Alicante Bouschet are 
heavy bearers with short pruning. The for- 
mer naturally takes a port flavor and the lat- 
ter insures sufficient color. The Tinta Ma- 
deira, when pruned properly, bears well and 
will increase the quality of the port wine. 

The Palomino is one of the heaviest and 
most regular bearers grown in California 
and is peculiarly suited for sherry making. 
It is the principal grape of the Span- 
ish sherry district. The Beba bears 
nearly or quite as well as the Palomino and 



is of rather better quality. Both bear with 
short pruning. The Boal hears good crops 
and gives a sweet wine of high quality. 



Vineyard for dry wine in the interior valleys. 



white. rroporliou. 

Valdepenyas ^ 

Lagrain ^4 

St. Macaire ^4 

Red. Proportion. 

Burger ^ 

West's White Prolific I4 

Vernaccia Sarda ^4 



The Valdepenyas has been growing for near- 
ly twenty years at the Tulare Experiment 
Station, and has always given regular and 
good crops with short pruning. The dry 
red wine made from it has been in every 
way satisfactory and much superior to that 
made from Bouschet, Zinfandel, or any of 
the varieties usually grown in the valley, and 
approaches more nearly than any other vari- 
ety the wines of the cooler localities. This 
variety has been planted to some extent in 
the cooler localities, where it is completely 
out of place. In Napa its bearing is un- 
satisfactory and its wine harsh. The vine 
needs a hot climate to bring out its best 
qualities. The Lagrain and St. Macaire 
are valuable on account of their intense color, 
which at Tulare is equal to that of the Bous- 
chets and is more stable. The St. Macaire 
is particularly recommended on account of 
its high acidity, which is extremely useful 
for the region. The Gros Mansenc retains 
its acid even better than the St. Macaire, 
and is also deeply colored, but it has not borne 
quite so well. 

The Burger has, fortunately, been planted 
extensively in the hotter parts of the interior, 
and probably no better choice could be made 
for the production of a cheap, light, neutral 
dry white wine in that region. Its acidity, 
which is excessive in the coast counties, is 
normal or even low in the interior. For this 
reason, and in order to give a little more 
character, it should be blended with such 
grapes as the West's White Prolific and the 
\''ernaccia Sarda, which retain their acidity 
at Tulare better than any other white grapes 
tested. 



How to Grow Them 



261 



Wine Grapes 



3. Vineyard for drj- wine in the coast counties. 



Red Proportion. 

Petite Sirah H 

Beclan I4 

Cabernet Sauvignon I4 

White. Proportion. 

Semillon I2 

Colombar ^4 

Sauvignon blanc ^4 



The conditions of soil and climate in the 
hills and valleys of the Coast Ranges are so 
varied that it is much more difficult to give 
recommendations that will be of general use 
than in the case of the interior valleys. In 
some parts of some of the valleys the soil is so rich 
and productive that it is possible to grow 
grapes as cheaply as in the interior The 
grapes recommended for the interior, how- 
ever, would not in most cases be suitable on 
the Coast, owing to the difference in climate. 
As a rule the grapes which are suitable to the 
hill slopes will do well in the valley, making 
up in quantity what they lose in quality. 

Of the many scores of red varieties which 
have been widely grown in this region, the 
Petite Sirah has undoubtedly given the most 
generally satisfactory results. Some growers 
are dissatisfied with its bearing, but most 
report that it produces as much as the Zin- 
fandel. Ungrafted. it requires long pruning. 
Its wine is of excellent quality but apt to be 
somewhat haf sh. This harshness can be avoid- 
ed by careful winemaking and by blending with 
a smooth variety such as the Beclan. The 
finest red wines which have ever been made 
in California are the product of the Cabernet 
Sauvignon. This variety, unfortunately, has 
been rejected almost everywhere on account 
of its light crops. Very satisfactory crops, 
however, can be obtained if care is taken in 
selecting cuttings for planting and a suitable 
system of pruning adopted. This variety, 
like most others, moreover, bears better when 
grafted on a suitable resistant stock. It is 
very much to be desired that a certain pro- 
portion of this variety should be planted in 
all the coast vineyards which are capable of 
producing a dry red wine of high quality. 



No white grape has given better results 
in both crop and quality than the Semillon. 
The Colombar (sometimes called the Sau- 
vignon vert) has also proved itself a regular 
bearer, and, while not of such high quality 
as the Semillon, it blends very well with 
that variety and serves to modify its aroma, 
which is sometimes excessive. The Sau- 
vignon blanc increases the quality of the wine, 
but like the Cabernet, Sauvignon requires 
careful cutting, selection and pruning to give- 
satisfactory crops. 

4. Vineyard for dry wine in the cooler parts of tlie 
coast counties. 

Red. Proportion. 

Beclan ^4 

Blue Portuguese I4 

white. Pioportion. 

Franken Riesling ^4 

Johannisberg Riesling I4 

In certain parts of the coast counties, 
owing to the frequent occurrence of ocean, 
fogs, many varieties of wine do not ripen 
their fruit properly. By a careful selection of 
varieties, however, good crops of well-ripened 
grapes may be obtained. It is in these lo- 
calities that the finest light wines, those most 
nearly resembling the wines of the Rhine, 
can be produced. 

The Beclan has shown itself especially 
suited to this region, and has the great ad- 
vantage of being very resistant to oidium. 
The Blue Portuguese is a good bearer, ripens 
easily, and blended with Beclan gives a good 
wine of Burgundy type. The best Riesling 
wines are grown near the coast and, undoubt- 
edly, profitable vineyards of the Rhine vari- 
eties can be grown in this region if proper 
methods of grape-growing and wine-making 
are adopted. 

Undoubtedly there are many excellent 
varieties of grapes that could be grown with 
profit which are not mentioned in the fore- 
going lists. The varieties mentioned are 
simply those which have given evidence of 
being most generally adapted to the more 
usual conditions. 



PART FIVE: SEMI-TROPICAL FRUITS. 



How to Grow Them 



265 



Dates Grown in California 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



DATE CULTURE IN OUR DESERT AREAS. 



E\'ER since the arid, semitropical regions 
of the United States became known 
through the narratives of explorers, the date 
palm (Phoenix dactylifcra) has been pro- 
jected as a plant likely to demonstrate com- 
mercial value in America like that which it 
has held for centuries in the arid regions of 
Asia and Africa. This idea was also cher- 
ished even at an earlier date by the Spanish 
missionaries who brought the palm to Cal- 
ifornia, as will be described presently. Dur- 
ing the last decade the problem of introducing 
and establishing a date-growing industry has 
been taken up more seriously and syste- 
matically than ever before and must now be 
looked upon as approaching successful solu- 
tion. As, however, the undertaking is still in 
an experimental stage and appeals to rel- 
atively few people as a line of investment, 
no attempt will be made to discuss the date in 
detail. Instead, citation will be made of 
sources whence the reader who desires them 
can easily secure information of date-grow- 
ing methods in the old countries, discussion 
of their suitability to our conditions and 
suggestions of ways to enter upon date 
growing in California.* 

The date palm was brought to California 
by the padres, and the oldest date trees in the 
State are the survivors of their early plant- 
ings. Such trees are found at the San Diego 
Mission. They are conjectured to be more 
than a century old, and they have survived 
drouth and neglect, making unsuccessful 
effort at fruiting, for, according to common 
report, the fruit does not ripen, but whether 
owing to the unfavorable conditions indicated, 
or to lack of fertilization of the bloom, is 
not known. There are trees at Ventura, on 
the site of the garden of the old mission of 



* The Date I'alm and its Utilization In the Southwestern 
States, by Walter T. Swingle. Bulletin .S3. Bureau of Plant In- 
dustry, r. S. Dept. of Aer.. WashinRton. 1904. 

Date Varieties and Date Culture in Tunis, by T. H. Kearney, 
Bulletin 92, Ibid, 1906. 

Date Growing in Southern California, by S. C. Mason. Re- 
port of Riverside Fruit Groirers' Convention. State Horticultural 
Commissioner, Sacramento, 1908, 



San Buena \'entura, about forty feet in height 
and ten feet in circumference at the base, 
with long, graceful, fern-like leaves, which 
put forth about thirty feet from the ground. 

The ill success of these old trees in the 
direction of fruit bearing probably long pre- 
vented further attention to the date as a 
profitable growth. Still there were date 
palms grown from seed of the commercial 
date planted here and there for ornament or 
out of curiosity, and in due course of time 
the fruit appeared. The first public exhibi- 
tion of California dates known to the writer 
was made at the Mechanic's Institute Fair, 
in San Francisco, in September, 1877. The 
fruit was grown on the south bank of Putah 
Creek, the northern boundary of Solano 
County, the situation being slightly above 
the level of the plain of the Sacramento Val- 
ley, which lies east of it. The plants were 
grown by the late J. R. Wolfskill, from seed 
of commercial dates purchased in San Fran- 
cisco, and planted in 1858 or 1859. The seed 
germinated readily, and the young plants 
were set out in a row about one hundred 
feet south of Putah Creek, on a rich, fine, 
sandy loam, lying about twenty-five feet 
above the bed of the creek. The plants re- 
ceived good cultivation but no irrigation. 
This treatment was continued after the prop- 
erty passed into the hands of the late S. C. 
Wolfskill, the plants being allowed to remain 
in the row as originally planted, and they 
have attained great size, considering their 
crowded condition. They are approximately 
six feet apart, have trunks about two feet in 
diameter, and are twenty-five feet or more 
in height. 

Another hearing date palm stands about 
a mile eastward of the situation just de- 
scribed, near the residence of the late J. R. 
Wolfskill. It was grown from seed of the 
date of commerce, which was planted in 1863, 
and the tree bore its first fruit in 1880. Near 
it stands a taller date palm, which bears 
staminate bloom. This latter tree was orig- 



Propagation of the Date 



266 



California Fruits : 



inally one of the row previously described, 
and was successfully moved to its present 
situation after attaining considerable size. 

The fruit of the two bearing palms differs 
notably in appearance. That of the first-men- 
tioned tree is of bright yellow color and 
angular outline ; that of the second tree is 
wine red, with smooth surface. 

During recent years the date has fruited 
at many places in California and Arizona. 
There is little doubt that it will succeed in any 
of the interior regions which have a suffi- 
ciently high summer temperature, and even 
the so-called Colorado Desert may be dotted 
with groves of date palms, as portions of it 
now are with groves of the majestic fan palm 
of California. 

Soils and Waters for the Date. — Until 
recently the date palm has only been planted on 
good orchard land, but, according to ex- 
perience in date-growing countries, the tree 
does not require rich soil, but on the contrary, 
will thrive in a soil poor in humu.s — too poor 
and too purely mineral for any other fruit 
tree ; and it produces the finest and best- 
flavored dates, nourished by water too alka- 
line for man and beast to drink. These ob- 
servations warrant the trials of the tree which 
are now being made in situations not adapted 
to other fruits. 

PROPAGATION OF THE DATE. 
The date palm grows readily from the 
seeds of the dried date of commerce, and, 
as has been intimated, the trees now fruiting 
in this State have been obtained in this way. 
By the use of seed one gets, however, only 
seedlings, and the chance of thus securing a 
really fine variety is probably not greater 
than with other fruit-tree seedlings. In date- 
growing countries the best varieties are prop- 
agated by rooting the ofif-sets. sprouts, or 
suckers which appear at the base of the old 
palms. To secure the best foreign varieties 
such plants must be imported. The first suc- 
cessful enterprise of this kind was accom- 
plished in the summer of 1890 by the United 
States Department of Agriculture, under the 
direction of H. E. A-^an Deman, then chief of 
the Division of Pomology. The plants were 
divided between New Mexico, Arizona and 
California. The plants for California were 
sent to the Department of Agriculture of the 
University of California, and were planted at 
the experiment stations at Tulare and at 



Pomona, some of them being subsequently 
transplanted to the United States Date Gar- 
den at Mecca in the Colorado desert region. 
Upon fruiting a number of these plants, they 
seemed to be only seedlings and not the best 
foreign varieties, as represented. 

A full account of this efifort and its out- 
come is given in Bulletin 29, of the Arizona 
Experiment Station. 

The United States Department of Agri- 
culture undertook arrangements in 1899 for 
new importations, which were successfully 
made, but all that was anticipated in securing 
valuable varieties was not attained. Director 
R. H. Forbes, of the Arizona Experiment 
Station, writes in Timely Hints No. 72 
(April, 1908) : 

"Several of the Old World varieties which 
have thus far fruited have failed to make 
good for various reasons. Some have re- 
quired a longer growing season to mature ; 
others have soured in damp or cool weather, 
and still others do not appeal to the American 
consumer. A few varieties have proved ac- 
ceptable in all respects, and to such as these 
we must look for future commercial develop- 
ments.'' 

Of the foreign varieties thus introduced 
the following have been produced in small 
commercial quantities : Rhars, Tedalla, Bir- 
ket el Haggi and Deglet Noor. 

Growing Palms from Seed. — Seeds taken 
from the dried dates of commerce germinate 
readily ; in fact, seedlings frequently appear 
in the gutters of unpaved streets where the 
seeds have been thrown during the rainy 
season. Director Forbes, of the Arizona Sta- 
tion, says that seeds will come up more 
promptly if first stratified. This may be done 
by taking a gasoline can or deep box and 
placing three inches of sand in the bottom 
after making a number of holes in it for 
drainage. The seeds are placed upon this 
layer and the can or box filled with sand, 
the whole then being put in a sheltered place 
and kept moist for three to six weeks, when 
the seeds will be soft and ready for prompt 
growth when planted. The seedlings may 
be started either in nursery rows for trans- 
planting after one to three years, or if fre- 
quent irrigations may be relied on, in the field 
where the trees are to remain. 

Dr. \V. T. Swingle, whose work on date 
growing has already been cited, gives the fol- 



How to Grow Them 



267 



Date Blossoms and Fruit 




i he l)ae I'jini I'hoenix daciylifera ). 1. Blossom. 2. Fruit. 



The Date Palm 



268 



California Fruits; 



lowing suggestions on the growing of seed- 
lings and their subsequent handhng to de- 
termine sex and to select bearing palms of 
desirable type: 

The seed should be planted rather thickly in well- 
drained beds of fertile soil, free from alkali. These 
beds should be watered frequently, as the young date 
seedlings need an abundance of moisture. If prop- 
erly cared for, the seedlings will reach a height of 
from 12 to i8 inches the first year and can be trans- 
planted into the permanent orchard the second year. 

These seedlings should be set out in rows about 
30 feet apart and placed 5 or 6 feet apart in the row. 
Ordinarily field crops can be grown between the rows 
until long after the palms come into bearing. After 
three or four years, when* the young palms begin 
to flower, the male trees can be dug up and destroyed, 
thus thinning out about half of the trees. Then 
when the female trees come into fruit, those which 
yield decidedly inferior fruit can also be removed, so 
that finally about one-fourth of the original number 
of seedlings will be left standing. The spaces be- 
tween the seedlings will be irregular and offshoots 
can be taken from the best sorts and planted where 
the largest gaps occur. By preventing ofTshoots from 
growing on the poorer sorts they will yield more fruit 
and finally can be destroyed and replaced by offshoots 
from some of the better sorts. In this way, by de- 
grees, the orchard can be improved without expense 
for offshoots aside from the labor of planting them. 

Rooting Suckers. — Suckers taken off in 
warm weather and watered freely usually 
take root readily. Care should be taken not 
to let the plants dry. Director Forbes gives 
these points : Suckers should not be taken 
from the parent tree until they have attained 
a diameter of 5 to 6 inches and a weight of 
15 to 20 pounds. Suckers should be removed 
by cutting in and down along the line of 
cleavage between them and the main trunk, 
with a strong chisel or a sharp flat-pointed 
bar. If possible the cut should be carried 
down so as to bring away at least one or 
two sound roots. The leaves should be 
closely pruned and for shipment the cut bases 
had better be protected against drying out by 
layer of wet moss or similar material. In 
planting, the sucker should be set in previ- 
ously irrigated and well settled soil to the 
depth of its greatest diameter, taking care 
that the center of the palm is not below the 
irrigating water level. 

For convenience in irrigating, a shallow 
basin of earth should be made about the 
sucker, in which, to lessen evaporation and 
the rise of alkali, a inulch of fine barnyard 
litter three or four inches deep should be 
spread. The soil about newlv transplanted 
suckers should he kept constantly wet by fre- 



quent irrigations. Suckers should be cut and 
transplanted April to August, inclusive, but 
not during or approaching cool weather. 

Be.\i?ing Age of the Date. — There is 
much difference in the ages at which the 
seedlings have come in fruit in the hands of 
different growers. Fruit has been reported 
on seedlings six years old and even on plants 
four years from the seed. Such early ma- 
turity must not, however, be generally ex- 
pected. 

Blooming of the D.\te. — The date palm 
is dioecious, and, its staminate (male) and 
pistillate (female) blooms appearing on dif- 
ferent trees, it requires the association of the 
two for perfect fruiting. Growing plants 
from seed, as already stated, leaves the 
grower in doubt as to the sex of his plants 
until they bloom. Usually one obtains a 
large preponderance of male plants. In 
propagating from suckers the new tree is of 
the same sex as the parent. It is advised to 
have about one male to twenty female trees. 
The pollen can he transported long distances 
and maintains its vitality for a long time. 

Artificial fertilization of the bloom of the 
bearing palm has been found of advantage 
in this State and was probably first practiced 
by J. R. Wolfskin. Though the staminate 
tree was but a few feet away from the pistil- 
late, the male bloom was broken in pieces and 
hung to the leaves of the female tree near 
to the pistillate flowers. It was found that 
the parts of the date cluster which are nearest 
to the suspended male blooms have more per- 
fect fruit than the more distant parts. Other 
California date growers have had similar ex- 
perience. 

In Winters the bearing palms bloom in 
April and May, and the fruit ripens in No- 
vember. 

Beauty of the Date Palm. — The date 
palm in fruit is a beautiful sight. The glau- 
cous green pinnate leaves arch outward. 
Between two of these emerge the bright 
orange-yellow polished fruit stalks, which 
divide into a spray of slender bright • yellow 
stems a foot or so in length ; and thickly set 
upon these in clusters are the various colored 
fruits covered with a rich bloom. It is a 
sight not easily forgotten by a lover of na- 
ture, and especially by one reared in a north- 
ern zone, the characteristic vegetation of 
wliich is so different. 



How to Grow Them 



269 



Localities for the Figf 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE FIG: THE GRANDEST FRUIT TREE OF CALIFORNIA. 



THE lig is, perhaps, the grandest fruit tree 
of CaUfornia. Its majestic size 
and its symmetry make it a crown- 
ing feature of the landscape, and its dense 
foHage renders the wide space embow- 
ered by it a harbor of refuge from mid- 
summer heat, both for idlers and for the in- 
dustrious. On adjacent farms in Pleasant's 
Valley, Solano County, there are large fig 
groves ; one serves as a shelter for the pack- 
ers of fruit from the contiguous orcliard, and 
the other incloses and shades a croquet 
ground. Aleasurements of large trees are 
abundant, for old trees are numerous in the 
interior of the State, both in the valley and 
on the slopes of the Sierra foot-hills. At 
Knight's Ferry, in Stanislaus County, there 
is a fig tree sixty feet in height, with branches 
of such length as to shade a circle seventy 
feet in diameter. The trunk at the base is 
eleven feet around, and nine feet at a distance 
of three feet from the ground. A little higher 
the trunk divides into seven or eight large 
branches, each of which is nearly five feet in 
circumference. At thirty feet from the 
ground the limbs are seven and eight inches 
through. The largest grove is in the neigh- 
borhood of Knight's Ferry, and consists of 
fifteen massive black fig trees, which, though 
set sixty feet apart,' mingle their branches 
overhead and form a network through which, 
in the summer, hardly a beam of light can 
pass. 

Such groves are frequently seen in the older 
settled parts of the State. Perhaps the most 
interesting single fig tree is that on Rancho 
Chico. quite near the residence of General 
Bidwell. It was planted in 1856, and has 
attained a marvelous growth. One foot 
above the ground the trunk measures eleven 
feet in circumference: the widespreading 
branches have been trained toward the ground 
and, taking root there, banyan-like, they now 
form a wonderful inclosure over one hundred 



and fifty feet in diameter. The tree is loaded 
every year. 

The crop on these large trees is propor- 
tionate to their size and, entering their area 
in the morning during the ripening 
season, one can scarcely step without 
crushing figs, though the fruit may be 
gathered up each day and placed in the sun 
for drying. 

REGIONS SUITED FOR THE FIG. 

Though there are still many fine points to 
be determined as to what situations and con- 
ditions favor the production of the very finest 
figs, and there are indications that there is 
possibly much difference, it may be truly said 
that a very small part of the State is really 
unsuited to its growth. If one shuns the im- 
mediate coast of the upper part of the State, 
where the summer temperature is too low for 
successful ripening, and keeps below the alti- 
tude of the mountains where winter killing 
of the tree is possible, he can grow figs almost 
anywhere. 

Selections of varieties adapted to par- 
ticular situations has much to do with the suc- 
cess of the fig, as with other fruits, and, 
therefore, a broad statement of adaptability 
must be received with such an understanding. 
The intrusion of the coast influences borne 
eastward bv the winds of summer, as de- 
scribed in Chapter I, gives a night tempera- 
ture too low for ripening of some varieties, 
which turn sour upon the trees. Present in- 
dications are that the finest dried figs, having 
the thinnest skin and the nearest approach 
generally to the fig of Smyrna, the commer- 
cial standard for dried figs, will be produced 
in the drier portions of the valleys and foot- 
hills. Even in Southern California fig-sour- 
ing is quite prevalent, and selection of loca- 
tions must be circumspectly made. More 
time is requisite for the final demonstration 



Budding the Fig 



270 



California Fruits : 



of these matters, although years have already 
been devoted to the problem. 

SOILS FOR THE FIG. 

As it must be left with the future to de- 
termine the mooted point as to the influence 
of special situations upon the bearing of the 
fig, and the more minute characteristics of the 
fruit, so more experience is needed to demon- 
strate tlie comparative effects of dift'erent soils. 
It might seem, from the fact of the age of our 
trees in different parts of the State, that time 
enough had elapsed to determine these points, 
but it must be remembered that all our oldest 
trees are of the very hardy variety found at 
the missions, and conclusions drawn from 
them as to all varieties are unsafe. 

The fig will thrive in any soil that one 
would think of selecting for any of our com- 
mon orchard trees, and, in fact, the fig suc- 
ceeds on a wider range of soils than any one 
of them. One is safe in planting figs for 
family use, or for marketing, wherever the 
summer temperature is high enough to ripen 
the fruit well, and the winter temperature 
high enough to preserve the life of the tree. 
This applies merely to the successful growth 
of the fig; to secure ripening at a time when 
the fruit can be profitably sold for table use, 
IS another question. 

The selection of soils especially suitable to 
the production of the best figs for drying 
involves more considerations than rule in the 
growth of table fruit. For drying, the fig 
should attain a good size, but should not 
contain excess of moisture. In some parts 
of the State the first crop of figs in the sea- 
son has been found unfit for drying. The 
second, and, in some localities, the third crop, 
appearing later in the season, when the 
moisture supply of the soil is reduced, dry 
well. This condition of the first crop is, 
however, affected by local conditions, for 
there are places in the Sierra foot-hills where 
the soil moisture has to be replenished earlv 
in the season by irrigation to prevent even the 
first crop from falling prematurely, and sub- 
sequent irrigation brings to perfection the 
second and third crops. The fig tree needs 
plenty of moisture in the soil, but not too 
nuich. .-Xs with other fruits, if the soil does 
not retain the needed amount naturally, it 
must be supplied by irrigation wisely admin- 
istered. 



PROPAGATION OF THE FIG. 

The fig grows very readily from cuttings, 
and this is the chief method of propagation. 
Cuttings should be made while the tree is 
fully dormant, in the winter, of well-matured 
wood of the previous season's growth, giving 
preference to the stocky, short-jointed shoots, 
and making the cuttings about six to eight 
inches in length. The cut at the lower end 
should be made at the joint, or where solid 
wood is found. The planting and care of the 
cuttings is essentially the same as of vine 
cuttings, already described. If well made 
and cared for, a very satisfactory growth is 
made the first season, and the trees are ready 
for planting out in permanent place the fol- 
lowing season. 

Single Bud Cuttings. — If one desires to 
multiply a new variety very rapidly, single- 
eye cuttings will make plants. This is, also, 
analogous to single-eye grape cuttings, as al- 
ready described. 

Budding the Fig. — The foregoing means 
enable one to propagate a fig so rapidly that 
recourse is not had to budding, as in propa- 
gating other trees ; still, budding is feasible, 
either on small plants or on young shoots of 
old trees which it is desired to bud over. 

The fig may be budded by the common 
shield method, as used for ordinary fruit 
trees, and described in Chapter IX, but owing 
to the tendency of the fig bark to shrink in 
drying, the bud should be closely bound in 
with a narrow waxed band, to exclude the 
air. As the bark is thick, it is often desirable 
to cut out a little of the edges closest to the 
bud when in place. 

Another method of budding the fig is by 
annular or "ring budding," a method also 
relied upon with the walnut and chestnut. 
Annular budding is done in the fall. A cir- 
cular ring of bark is taken off from the stock 
by the aid of a budding knife, by running 
two circular cuts around the stock, and a 
longitudinal one between the two circular 
cuts ; the ring of bark taken off must be at 
least one inch wide, and from that up to two 
inches. A like ring of bark is taken off in 
the same manner from a scion of the variety 
to he budded in, and from a branch of the 
year, or preceding one, well in sap, and hav- 
ing about the same diameter as the stock. 
This ring should have on it one or two buds. 



How to Grow Them 



271 



The Grafting of the Fig 



It must fit exactly the space prepared on the 
stock, and more particularly at the lower 
circular cut, so that both barks will exactly 
unite at that point. \Mien the ring is too 
long, a little bit of it might be cut off with 



a bandage pretty firmly over the whole. After 
two or three weeks the bandage has to be 
taken off, and, in the ensuing spring, the top 
of the stock or limb is cut down three inches 
above the budding. 




Grafted Fig Tree protected with sacliing from sun burn. 



a very sharp knife till it fits well ; if the ring 
is too large for the stock, a longitudinal 
strip would be cut out, and if too narrow, 
such a strip, if with a bud on so much the 
better, will have to be used to fill up the 
empty space. One must be very careful while 
drawing the knife around the stock not to 
go too deep into the wood to injure the 
cambiuiu laver, or to weaken the stock. Tie 



Another way of working such trees is by 
"whistle budding," which is done in the 
sirring, when the sap is well up. The stock 
and scion must be both of the same size and 
well in sap. The top of the stock is cut 
down to several inches f roin the ground ; 
a circular ring of bark is then taken off, and 
a corresponding ring froin the scion, but 
without a longitudinal cut. is put in its place. 



Methods of Bark Graftine 



212 



California Fruits 



In inserting it care should be taken that the 
top of the stock, which is to receive the ring 
from the scion, be very smooth, and the 
latter is then easily pushed down around it 
and bandaged. In the case of the fig, it is 
especially desirable to use the latter method 
when the sap is up, because if the top of the 
stock is not removed, the exudation from 




Preparation of stock and scion for bark 
grafting the fig. 

above sours around the bud and prevents the 
union of stock and bud. 

To prepare an old tree for budding over, 
the limbs inay be cut back in February 
within two to six feet of the trunk, covering 
the ends with paint or grafting wax. Allow 
two shoots to start near the end of each of 
of these amputated limbs, and rub off all other 
shoots. Bud the shoots when they attain the 
thickness of one's finger, taking green buds 
from the growth it is desired to introduce, 
or let them grow and bud in the fall, which- 



ever is most convenient ; or bud in the grow- 
ing shoot, and rebud in the fall where buds 
have failed. 

Grafting the Fig. — The fig can be grafted 
by the cleft-graft method, as described in 
Chapter IX, but the cleft should be made to 

one side of the stub and not through the cen- 
tral pith. Especial care must be taken in ex- 
cluding the air. Fill the cleft between the 
scions with warm wax, which will run in and 
fill the cavity. Then bind the stock with wax 
bands, taking the greatest care to cover the 
exposed wood surface, the cut end of the bark 
(which in the fig is very prone to shrink 
and draw back), and as far down the stock 
as the bark has been split. 

Cut the shield from a limb of about V2 inch in di- 
ameter, length of shield about i}-2 inches, its thick- 
ness from 1-8 to 1-4 inch, and its bud near the mid- 
dle of the shield. Do not reinove the wood from 
behind the bud. Make a cut in the stock, through 
the bark and into the wood, its length and width 
a little greater than those of the shield. Insert the 
sliield into the cut, so that the inner bark of the top 
of the shield and cut will coincide, so that one side 
of shield and cut — and both sides, if practicable — 
will coincide. Place the flap of the cut over the 
shield (removing a part of the flap so the bud will 
not be covered), and -fasten flap, shield and stock 
together very firmly with twine, and protect them 
with paper tied around them. They may be grafted 
in that mode, whenever dormant buds are found, 
for the shields. Twenty-four shields were inserted 
at several times, during one spring, and there was 
only one failure. 

A inethod of bark grafting applied to the 
fig by George C. Roeding of Fresno and 
approved by him after several years of suc- 
cessful experience, affords an excellent way 
of grafting over large trees. It does away 
with splitting the stock and therefore hastens 
the barking-over of an amputation. The 
branches to be grafted are cut off within 18 
to 24 inches from the point of divergence 
from the main body of the tree, allowing at 
least two branches to remain, one of which 
should be on the southwest, if possible, so 
that the grafts will be protected from the 
afternoon sun. 

After having sawed off the branches, the 
stumps neatly smoothed over, with a sharp 
knife, so as to have a clean, smooth surface, 
particularly along the edge, two, four or 
six scions should be placed on each stock, 
the number, of course, being regulated by the 
size of the stump. Cut out a V-shaped piece 









Views of Calimyrna ( Genuine Smyrna ) fig orchards. 



How to Grow Them 



273 



Planting and Pruning 



of bark, as shown in the engraving. The 
distance from the top of the stock to the 
point of the \' should be alxjut i 1-4 inches. 

Another method is to make sHghtly outward 
and downward cuts into the stub with a 
sharp knife, so as not to cause a split, but 
rather deep, clean cuts, into which the wedge- 
shaped scions are firmly pushed and a cord 
wound around the stub to hold all strongh- 
in place before waxing thoroughly. This 
form of grafting will be shown in the chapter 
on the walnut, for it is very successfully 
used on that tree also. 

The form of side-graft with a saw-cut as 
described in the chapter on the peach is also 
available. A form of bud-graft, that is, 
budding with a large shield into old bark, 
is also successful. Judge Rhodes of San Jose 
describes his method, both with the olive and 
the fig, in this way: 

Select a scion of the proper size, never be 
smaller than an ordinary lead pencil. As a 
rule scions from two-year-old wood, with 
ver>' little pith and with a diameter of about 
1-2 inch, will give the best results. The 
scions should have a sloping cut at the lower 
end, with the bevel all on one side and not 
like a wedge. The bevel should be as long 
or a little longer than the \'-shaped opening 
in the stock and should fit snugly into this 
opening, so that the bark on both edges of 
the scion touches the bark of the stock. After 
the scions are placed, wrap tightly with five 
or SIX -ply cotton twine, and cover the wounds 
as well as the stub with liquid grafting wax. 
Wax the top of the scion to prevent dr>Mng 
out. If waxed cloth is used it must be re- 
moved before the warm weather sets in or 
the bark will be smothered and will die. 
After the scions have become well united, 
which takes from two to three months, the 
strings should be cut. This method of graft- 
ing can not be made successfulh' until the 
sap begins to flow, say from the latter part of 
February to the first of April. The scions 
should never be more than four.inches long. 

Seedling Figs. — Figs are readily grown 
from the imjxirted fig of commerce. Dr. 
Gustav Eisen of San Francisco, our leading 
writer on the fig. gives the following ex- 
plicit directions for growing the fig from 
seed : 

Cut open imported Smyrna figs ; wash out the seeds 
in warm water, those that float are empty and worth- 



less; those that sink arc generally fertile. Sow these 
in shallow boxes of sand and loam mixed, and place 
in a frame under glass. In three weeks they will be 
up and must be very sparingly watered. Set out next 
season in nursery row. In three years from the seed 
such plants will be found to bear. 

The tendency of the plants grown from 
Smyrna figs is to revert to the wild type, and 
there is a small chance of securing good 
varieties. 




First Summer's grovib of barb graft. 

PLAXTIXG AND PRUNING THE FIG. 

The chief point to observe in planting fig 
trees is to get them far enough apart, because 
of the great spread of branches which they 
attain. Of course they may be planted 
twentj' feet apart if the owner intends to 
remove alternate rows, but to plant at forty 
feet, or even farther apart, with other fruit 
trees or vines between, on the plan of alter- 
nate or double squares, described in Chapter 
X. would be the best way to lay out a fig or- 
chard — the intermediate growths to be re- 
moved as the figs require more room. 

Very handsome effects are produced by 
planting the figs along avenues to inclose 
orchards of other fruits. Fig trees are grand 
for shade around buildings, and wild or 
Capri figs are desirable to plant in this way 
for a purpose which will be mentioned later. 

In transplanting fig trees extra care must 
be taken to keep the roots from drj-ing. After 
planting, the stem must be diligently guarded 



Cultivation 



274 



California Fruits : 




Pruning the fig tree. 

1 First year. 2 .Second yenv. .? •|'liinl : 



from sunburn, to which it is hablc in the 
warmer parts of the State. 

Pruning the Fig. — The tig requires very 
Httle pruning after its shape is outlined. 
There is difiference of opinion and practice as 
to the heiglit at which the head should be 
formed : some head nearly as low as already 
advised for common orchard trees ; others, 
having in mind the immense thickness at- 
tained by the limbs, and their disposition to 
droop, head as high as four to six feet, which 
is the better way to proceed when the trees 
are wide-spaced and expected to attain large 
size. 

In shaping the tree, branches should be 
brought out at a distance apart on the stem, 
so that there may be room for their expansion 
without crowding each other, and care should 
be taken not to leave too many main limbs. 
Three limbs, well placed around the stem, 
are enough. The branches putting out on 
the under side of these limbs should be sup- 
pressed, and those growing upright, or ob- 
liquely upright, retained. As the fig has 
pithy shoots it is very desirable to cover all 
cuts with paint or wax. After getting the 
general shape of the tree fixed, there is little 
need of pruning except to remove defective 
branches or those which will cross and inter- 
fere with each other and to prevent the in- 
terior of the tree from becoming too dense. 
It is better to remove branches entirely than 
to shorten them ; or, in shortening, always cut 
to a strong lateral. Stubs left at pruning 
are very undesirable in the fig. 

Cui.Ti\'.\TioN. — Young fig orchards are cul- 
tivated as are other fruit areas. Old trees 
which completely shade the ground are usually 
left to themselves, without cultivation, ex- 
cept cutting out v/eeds. Irrigation is gov- 
erned by local conditions, as already stated. 
In starting the orchard it is exceedingly im- 
portant that the young trees should not be 
allowed to suffer from drying out of the soil. 

r.i;.\KiNG Age of the Fig. — The fig often, 
and, perhaps, usually, begins its bearing very 
early, in the most favorable situations in this 
State. Some fruit is often had the second 
vear, and a crop worth handling the third 
year. Still, it is wiser not to calculate 
definitely upon such returns, for four or five 
}ears sometimes pass without a satisfactory 
crop. We have, also, instances of "barren fig 



How to Grow Them 



275 



Caprification 



trees," which persist in "dropping their un- 
timely figs," year after year, during their 
youth. How much of this is due to variety, 
and how much to locality, is not definitely 
known, but successful fruiting has been se- 
cured by grafting over barren trees, using 
scions from bearing trees growing adjacent 
to them. This has "no relation to the subject 
which will be next discussed. 

CAPRIFICATION.- 

Caprification consists of suspencUng the 
fruit of the wild or Capri fig in the l>ranches 



porters had not been deceived, and other 
efforts were made which resulted in other 
importations. These also cast to the ground 
their immature figs. Discussion turned then 
upon the fact of caprification — the necessity 
of having the fruit of the Capri or wild fig 
adjacent to the fruit of the Smyrna fig so 
that insects from the Capri might visit the 
fruit of the improved variety and pollinate 
its inclosed flowers, which, appearing upon the 
inner wall of an almost closed cavity, could 
not be reached by ordinary visiting insects. 
The wild trees had alreach' been introduced 




Cross section of Koeding's Capri Fig No. 3, Proficlii crop 



of the tree of improved variety, that the [jollen 
may be carried by an insect from the former 
to the latter. Until the present decade Cali- 
fornia has never been able to produce dried 
figs equal to the fig of commerce or the 
Smyrna fig. This was, at first, thought to be 
due to lack of the Smyrna variety. After 
painstaking eflfort this variety was introduced. 
Trees grew readily from the cuttings ; fruit 
appeared upon them and dropped before ma- 
turity. Doubt then arose as to whether im- 



* In a general treatise like this only a passing reference can 
be make to this subject which is perhaps the most interesting in 
the whole realm of entomo-hnrticulture. The fig grower should 
secure the following monographs : "Smyrna Fig Culture in the 
United States." b^ L. O. Howard Year book of V S. Dept of 
.\gr. for 1900; "The fig — its History, Culture and Curing." by 
GustavEisen. Bulletin No. 9, niv. of romology. f. S Dept. of 
Agr., 1901 : "The Smyrna Fig at Home and Abroad." hy George 
C. Roeding. Fresno. Cal.. 1903: "Some Points in the History of 
Caprification in the Life History of the Fig," by W. T. Swingle. 
Report of Riverside Fruit Growers' Convention. 1908 



and were freely growing near the others, but 
this fact availed nothing — the figs fell just the 
same from the Smyrna trees. In 1890 Mr. 
(korge C. Roeding, of Fresno, essayed to 
demonstrate the fact that the lack of the 
pollination was the secret of failure, and 
he succeeded in introducing the Capri pollen 
into the eye of the Smyrna fig, and secured 
thereby the retention of such pollinated figs 
upon the trees, and when ripened and dried 
these had the Smyrna character. The demon- 
stration was complete that California could 
not grow Smyrna figs without the pollinating 
agency found to be essential to success 
in Smyrna. This agent is a minute wasp 
called the blastophaga— an insect so minute 
that it can make its way through the mesh 
of ordinarv cheese-cloth and can enter the 



Foes of the Fig^ 



276 



California Fruits : 



almost closed eye of the young fig — so minute 
that a magnifying glass is necessary to give 
one any clear idea of its outline. For years 
constant eflfort has been made by various 
parties to secure the introduction of this in- 
sect. Urgent appeals were made to the 
United States Department of Agriculture, 
after private undertakings failed, to secure 
the insect alive or otherwise in form for 
permanent residence. In April, 1899, the 
feat was accomplished, the blastophagas being 
received from Algiers as collected and for- 
warded by W. T. Swingle to Mr. Roeding. 
Their ofifspring appeared in large numbers 
during the summer and fall of the same year. 
On the basis of this achievement the com- 
mercial production of a true Smyrna fig in 
California began and has rapidly developed. 
Mr. Roeding gave his product the musical 
patronymic "Calimyrna," which now adheres 
also to the variety from which it is produced. 
To avail himself of the benefits of caprifi- 
cation, every grower of varieties which re- 
quire it must also grow suitable Capri figs 
and establish the insect in them. California 
nurserymen supply these and the insects also 
when the trees are of suitable age to receive 
them. 

FOES OF THE FIG. 

The fig is freer from insect pests than 
other fruit trees, and yet it is a mistake to 
consider it wholly free. The writer has seen 
the leaves well covered with a lecanium scale 
and has found a moth larva boring in the 
pith of the young shoots ; still, practically, 
the fig tree in California has not yet suffered 
from insects. 

The gophers have a pronounced appetite for 
fig roots, and their presence should be care- 
fully watched for. Swine have a liking for 
fig bark. The trees of the grand grove 
planted at Hock Farm, on the Feather River, 
by General Sutter, were completely girdled 
from the ground as high as a pig could reach 
by standing on its hind legs. Figs make 
good food for hogs, and plantations have 
been made with this in view, but if the hogs 
are to be harvesters, it will be well to protect 
the stems of the trees from them. 

VARIETIES CIF THE FIG. 

The fig presents what may he termed an 
aggravated example of the confused nomen- 



clature which pervades California fruits. Dr. 
Eisen has made a commendable effort to 
bring order out of chaos by a study of 
foreign records and locally-grown fruit, and 
has published a catalogue .of varieties chiefly 
grown in California, with descriptions of each 
in Bulletin 5 of the Division of Pomology of 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture.* The 
following enumeration is largely restricted to 
varieties which have been commercially propa- 
gated : 

Adriatic. — Size, medium, roundish; neck medium; 
stalk short; ribs obscure; eye open, with red iris; 
skin very thin, greenish in the shade, yellowish in 
the sun ; pulp bright strawberry red or white, with 
violet streaks in the meat ; varies in quality accord- 
ing to location. This has been found very useful in 
California, 'but is not of fine flavor when dried. It 
requires rich soil, with considerable moisture and a 
very large percentage of lime. This variety is not 
identical with that known in Italy as Adriatic. 

Agen. — Medium size, roundish ; skin bright green, 
cracking longitudinally when ripe, showing white 
bands : flesh deep red, very rich ; a good bearer, but 
very late, requiring a long hot season. 

Angclique; syn. Angelica. — Medium, pyriform ; ribs 
prominent ; yellowish white ; pulp white, with rose- 
colored center; leaves five-lobed. A very good vari- 
ety in some of the coast valleys. 

Bardajic. — "Very large, cbovate, pyriform, long neck 
and stalk, skin very thin, grayish green ; pulp rich 
crimson, fine table fig and largest of S.myrna class." 
— liucding. 

Bcllona. — Large, pyriform, dark purple, red flesh, 
fine flavor when dried. 

Black Bulletin Sinyma. — Large, obtuse, pyriform, 
short neck, long stalk, light purple, flesh pink, lus- 
cious. 

Black Smyrna. — Small, globulur, short stem, pulp 
dark amber, good for home use. 

Bourjassotte, White; syn. Barnissottc, JVhitc. — Me- 
dium, round and somewhat flattened, eye large, sunk; 
skin waxy, green ; pulp bright red. A very fine fig. 
Tree very large. 

Brown Turkey. — Large, turbinate, pyriform, with 
hardly distinct neck; stalk short; apex flattened; 
ribs few ; slightly elevated ; eye medium, slightly 
open, scales large ; skin smooth, greenish to violet- 
brown in sun, with darker ribs ; pulp dark rosy red, 
quality good, and tree a good bearer. Brunswick is 
frequently confounded with this fig. A distinct 
variety is grown in Vacaville as Brown Turkey, 
which is named by Dr. Eisen "Warren." 



* ■\ much fuller discussion of fiq: varieties is to be found in 
nr. Eisen s Bulletin 9, .already cited. Many notes are made of 
thefruitine in the late John Rock's collection on the grounds 
of the California Nursery Co.. at Niles. Alameda County, of 
many introduced varieties which have not been commercially 
propagated in California. 



How to Grow Them 



277 



Varieties of the Fio- 



Brunszvick. — Verj' large, pyriform, with swollen 
cheeks, one of which is larger than the other; apex 
very obtuse; neck and stalk very short; ribs distinct, 
but not much elevated ; eye medium, open ; skin pale 
amber, with violet tint; pulp amber. An early, large 
fig, but with no flavor. Very common; requires rich, 
moist soil. 

Celeste. JVhitc. — Very small, amber; suitable for 
preserves. 

Celeste, Blue; syn. Violcttc. — Small, ovate, turbin- 
ate ; ribs few, but distinct, especially near apex ; eye 
raised, rough ; color dark violet amber, without red- 
dish blush ; bloom confined to the neck ; skin thin ; 
pulp deep rose ; meat atnber, sweet, but lacking in 
flavor. 

Checker Injur. — "Roundish, oblate, short neck, flesh 
reddish, skin greenish yellow, very thin, dries well." 
—Roeding. 

Col. de Signora Bianco. — Medium sized, pyriform ; 
long ribbed neck ; skin green, changing to yellow ; 
flesh deep red, very rich and luscious ; a strong grow- 
er; late, suited for a warm region. 

DaitfMne. — Large, round turbinate, purple with 
blue bloom ; flesh amber. 

Doree. — Medium, oblong, bright yellow, flesh rose- 
color. 

Dottato. — Medium ovate, pyriform ; neck well set ; 
stalk very short or none ; ribs low ; skin smooth ; eye 
mediuin; skin thin, yellowish green, meat white; 
pulp yellowish amber, sometimes with violet flush. 
One of the best figs for drying: tree a strong 
grower, requiring moist, rich soil. Lately introduced 
into California. 

Drap d'Or. — Large, pyriform, with very low neck 
and stalk; ribs elevated; ape.x obtuse and concave; 
color light violet-reddish amber, not dark ; pulp rosy 
red. A fig of very fine quality; especially useful for 
confections and Crystallizing; not identical with 
Brunswick. 

Du Roi. — Above medium; round, pyriform; stalk 
very short ; eye large or variable, with .scales stand- 
ing out ; skin smooth, pale bluish green ; pulp amber, 
with rosy streaks and exceedin.g!y minute seeds. Re- 
lated to Marscillnise and Athens, and one of the very 
best figs in California for drying. 

Early Violet. — Small to very small, round turbin- 
ate; neck distinct but short; .stalk medium to long; 
ribs distinct, elevated ; skin rough ; violet-brown, with 
thin penrl-colored bloom; pulp red. This variety 
bears almost continuously and is preferable to the 
Tschias and Celeste. 

Genoa. White. — ."Xbove mediuin, pyriform; neck 
small; stalk short; ribs indistinct; skin downy; eye 
very small ; skin pale olive-green ; pulp pale rose. 
One of the better figs, quite distinct from Marseil- 
laise. 

Gentile. — Very large; ovate pyriform; neck short 
but distinct ; stalk very short ; skin uneven, with 
ridges; eye ver\' large, open, with projecting scales; 



color greenish yellow, spotted with white ; pulp am- 
ber, streaked with rose ; seeds few but very large. 
Only the first crop of this variety ripens. It is of the 
San Pedro tribe. One of the best early figs. 

Grosse Grise Biferc. — Medium ovate pyriform; 
neck very short; stalk short; ribs distinct; eye small; 
skin downy, dark violet amber, pale olive in shade ; 
the bloom is separated by a distinct line from the 
ape.x ; pulp deep red. A tender, good fig. 

Hirtu du Japan. — Medium size, roundish with long 
stalks; skin very dark; flesh opaline; quality best; 
very prolific. 

Ischia, Black. — Small; neck short; stalk medium; 
skin smooth ; color dark violet black, greenish around 
the apex ; neck dark ; eye medium, open ; bloom thin, 
dark blue ; pulp red. Of fair quality but small size. 

Isehia, White. — Size below medium, round, with 
small neck ; stalk very short ; eye open ; skin smooth, 
bluish green, with brown flush ; pulp rosy red. Com- 
mon in California. 

Kassaba. — "Medium to large, globular, flattened, 
.short neck and stalk, pale green, pulp reddish, very 
sweet, dries well. Tree handsomest of Smyrna vari- 
eties." — Roeding. 

Ladaro. — Very large, oblong, pale yellow, brown 
cheek, flesh deep red. rich and sugary. 

Magdalen {Madeleine). — Below .medium, round; 
ribs distinct, rou.gb, disappearing around the eye; 
stalk longer than the fig, eye open, large ; skin green- 
ish yellow; pulp amber white. A very delicious fig, 
superior to the Tschias and Celeste. Not synonymous 
with Angelique. 

Marseillaise. Long. — Large, longer than wide; skin 
thick, with brownish shade ; pulp dull red. Re- 
quires moist soils. .A fair fig. which dries well. Not 
related to either Black or White Marseillaise. 

Marseillaise. White. — Medium ovate, pyriform; 
neck short ; stalk medium ; ribs numerous and dis- 
tinct ; apex flattened ; eye large, open ; skin downy, 
pale yellowish green, mottled with white ; pulp amber, 
with a few large seeds. One of the best figs for dry- 
ing. Requires sandy, rich soil. 

Mission, Black. — Medium to large, turbinate; neck 
long; stalk short; ribs distinct; eye prominent, open; 
skin rough, deen mahogany violet, with red flush ; 
pulp not fine, red but not bright or brownish amber ; 
sweet, but not high-flavored; common in the South- 
ern States, California and Mexico. The oldest fig 
in this country. 

Monaco Bianco; syn. JVhitc Monaco. — Lar.ge. 
rounded, turbinate, flattened, neck small but very dis- 
tinct ; ribs numerous; eye very open; skin dark bluish 
green, with thin Moom ; pulp dark-red rose. A 
most excellent fi.g for table, one of the best in Cali- 
fornia. 

Afoiiis.roui'a. — Globular, turbinate, flattened, dark 
violet, blue bloom, pulp red, soft and sweet. 

Paci^c JVhitc. — \n unknown varietv found grow- 
ing on a farm in Placer Countv. Medium size, fine- 



\'ariety of the Fig 



27S 



California Fruits : 



grained, very sweet, dries well, but the skin is thicker 
and more tough than the imported fig. That and its 
small size are the only objections to it. It is quite 
widely distributed in southern California. 

Pastilicrc. — Large, 3 inches by i;j; elongated, pyri- 
form, with long neck ; stalk short ; eye closed, sur- 
rounded by an elevated iris; skin rough, hairy, with 
blue bloom ; pulp red. Fine for preserves. 

Rondc Noire. — Large, round, but irregular ; neck 
distinct, short : eye small ; skin smooth, waxy, dark 
violet brown ; pulp amber. Greatly to be recom- 
mended as a table fig. Is not related to Black 
Ischia or Osborn Prolific. 

Rondc ]'iolcttc Native. — Large, globular, with no 
neck ; glossy green, shaded violet brown ; eye large ; 
flesh amber, surrounding rose center. 

Rose Blanche. — Large, roundish, flattened : long 
stalk ; brown or white ground ; flesh bright red. Suita- 
ble for table and drying. 

Royal I'ineyard. — Medium, pyriform. long, slender 
neck; reddish brown, blue bloom; eye large, open; 
flesh bright red. 

San Pedro, White: syn. Brebas. — Very large, 
round, flattened at apex; stalk and neck short; eye 
open ; skin thick, tender, of a bright yellow color or 
greenish in the shade, without bloom ; pulp amber. 
A remarkable and handsome fig. Only the first crop 
matures without caprification. Suited only for tabic 
use. Requires moist, rich soil.' 

San Pedro. BlacI;. — Very large, elongated ovate, 
with no stalk, but with well-set neck; skin smootli. 
violet black with green neck ; pulp red, coppery, tint- 
ed violet. For table use. The largest fig known. 

Smyrna ( Fig of Commerce, Drying fig of Smyrna, 
Calimyrna). — Of several attempts to secure the true 
Smyrna fig, or the variety which produces the w^dl- 
known Smyrna fig of commerce, that made by the S:ui 
Francisco Bulletin, and managed by G. P. Ri.x'ford. has 
achieved most prominence, and is now generally con- 
ceded to have proved successful. Fourteen thousand 
cuttings were obtained .through United States Con- 
sul E. J. Smithers. in 1882. and a large part of these 
were distributed throughout the State. A later direct 



importation of fig cuttings from Smyrna was made 
by the Fancher Creek Nursery, of Fresno. These 
trees have already borne fruit, as has been described 
in a preceding paragraph on caprification. In the 
summer of 1890 cuttings imported from Smyrna by 
the L'nited States Department of Agriculture were 
sent to several parties in this State. As the fig in- 
sect has fully established itself, as described on a pre- 
vious page, this variety will establish itself as the 
leading drj-ing fig here as a Smyrna, and a verv im- 
portant industry will be established upon it. Other 
figs previously called Smyrna in this State are mis- 
named. 

I'erdal, R<iund. — Below medium, round pyriform 
without stalk or neck ; skin smooth, waxy, bluish 
green ; e^'e closed ; pulp dark, blood red. A small 
fig. but valuable for canning and preserves ; better 
than the Ischias or Celeste. It does well in the Santa 
Clara Valley, but is inferior in the interior of the 
State. 

IVhite Endieh. — .\ re-named variety. Medium^ 
.golden yellow, pulp white tinged with pink ; tree pro- 
lific and long ripening season. 

Vcrdal Z.o;!gnf.— Medium, oblong, turbinate ; stalk 
and neck short; eye closed; yellow, ribs brownish; 
flesh red ; sweet, aromatic. 

Zimit::a. — Large, pyriform. greenish yellow amber 
flesh: good grower and bearer. 

There are many undetermined varieties of 
the fig grown here and there in the State. 
Some may be finally identified, others. may be 
new. Some of them yield an excellent dried 
fruit and .should be more carefully experi- 
mented with. During tiie last decade there 
has been a marked decline in interest in the 
fig because of the failure to secure the 
Smyrna type in the dried fruit and because 
.so many varieties soured before drying. The 
outlook seems to rest upon successful caprifi- 
cation. although recently there has been in- 
creased success in jirofitalile drying of other 
varieties. 




How to Grow Them 



279 



The Olive 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



THE OLIVE AND ITS GROWTH IN CALIFORNIA. 



T^HE olive is another of the old mission 
■1 fruits and though the tree and its 
products have been constantly under discussion 
since the American occupation, and though 
experimentation has been constant, it was not 
until 1885 tiiat the tide of popular favor turned 
strongly toward the olive. For twelve years 
thereafter planting proceeded with enthu- 
siasm amounting almost to infatuation, until 
the acreage in olives ten years ago reached 
such a figure that even the most enthusiastic 
ceased from further planting, because the fu- 
ture of the products of the olive was by no 
means clear. The competition of olive oil 
with cheaper salad oils worked greatly to the 
disadvantage of the higher-priced article, but 
as deception is now ruled out by recent pure- 
food legislation, cheaper oils can no longer be 
sold under the name of the olive, and legiti- 
mate producers will henceforth be protected. 
The difficulty of producing pickled ripe 
olives with good keeping qualities is also 
vastly greater than anticipated. In addition 
to these troubles the sterility of the trees in 
some situations, through frost or other agen- 
cies, discouraged many growers. It is 
lirobable that during the last decade the up- 
rooting of trees far exceeded the planting and 
the olive acreage decreased considerably, x^t 
the sanie .time there has been much ])rogress 
attained in the building and equipment of 
oil mills and pickling establishments, and in 
mastery of processes which yield acceptabk 
products — all of which have favorably in- 
fluenced the demand and price of the fresh 
fruit. The fact is, the olive was boomed in 
California along spectacular and speculative 
lines, and the industry must outlive the mis- 
takes which were made. California will pro- 
duce profitably, good olives and olive products 
in suitable places and through the efforts of 
masterful men and women who can rise to 
the r juirements of production and of protec- 
tion against imitatiou articles in the tra<lc. 



The olive tree has survived a temperature 
of 14 degrees Fahrenheit in California, but 
the fruit is injured by a slight fall below the 
freezing point. This may render unprof- 
itable the late varieties which carry their 
fruit-ripening into the winter months. 

The olive tree will thrive throughout the 
larger part of California, and it has been 
shown that it will grow in a soil too dry 
even for the grape-vine, and too rocky for 
any other fruit tree, but the growth of the 
tree and the bearing of fruit will be propor- 
tional to the amounts of plant food and mois- 
ture, and it is idle to expect fruit without 
irrigation if the soil cannot hold water enough 
for the tree. On foot-hill slopes the trees 
bear fruit earlier than in the rich valleys, al- 
though in the latter the trees attain larger 
growth. Trees in the interior bear sooner 
than on the coast, and ripen their fruit earlier 
in the season. 

The olive tree is now thriving in California 
in a great variety of soils. It is productive, 
if frosts are not too severe, on moist valley 
lands, while on hillsides, even where excava- 
tions had to be made between boulders, or 
into disintegrating rock, the tree has ex- 
hibited thrift and content with the situation. 
But the conclusion should not be drawn that 
the olive relishes poor soil. It may thrive 
with loose rocks or boulders, but it finds among 
them the elements it needs including an ade- 
quate supply of moisture. It is not to be in- 
ferred that the olive will succeed on sterile 
soil. 

.Although the relations of soils to the quali- 
ties of oil have been investigated by the Uni- 
versity of California Experiment Station and 
some interesting results published, we have 
not had experience enough in this State to 
demonstrate the influence of soils on the 
quality of the oil, but trade results have 
shown that good oil has been made from 
fruit "Town on some of our best valley 



Growiiip- Olives from Seed 



280 



California Fruits 



fruit soils, deep and naturally well drained, 
as well as from fruit grown upon drier up- 
lands, and the production on deeper, richer 
lands is much larger. 

PROPAGATION OF THE OLIVE. 

Olives are propagated from seed, and from 
cuttings of various kinds and sizes. The 
growth from seed is seldom practised in 



the kernels are deprived of their shell, they 
are kept moist in a compost, or mixture of 
cow-dung and sandy soil, and are sown 
thickly in the month of April. If it is thought 
to be too much work to take the kernels out 
of the pits, they must be soaked for twenty 
four hours in a solution of one half-pound of 
concentrated lye to the gallon of water. 
Most of the seeds sprout the first year. 
Planting the naked kernels gives the quickest 




Irrigation and the Olive; Large trees at both ends irrigated, central trees allowed to go dry. 

this State, liecause growth from cuttings is result. Without using this artificial means 
easy, and furnishes the variety desired without the seeds may remain dormant at least for 
grafting. two years. 

Large Cuttings. — There are two chief 
methods of propagating the olive from cut- 
tings now practiced in California. One uses 
well-matured wood, and the other young 
wood which has just passed out of the her- 
baceous state. Practice with hard wood pro- 
ceeds by taking cuttings of sound wood about 
a foot long and one-half to one inch in di- 
ameter, and rooting them as already described 



Growing Olives from Seed. — The olives 
should not be planted with the pulp, but 
cleaned of this either by letting them rot in 
a pile or by putting them into an alkaline 
solution to cut the oil. A simple way to has- 
ten germination is to break the pits, taking 
care not to hurt the germ. An instruinent 
similar to the nut cracker has been invented 
in France which is said to work well. When 



How to Grow Them 



281 



Budding the Olive 



for vine cuttings, in Chapter X.W I. These 
large cuttings sometimes remain dormant for 
a year or more, and recent propagation has 
been ahnost exclusively by (he small-cutting 
method. 

Small Cuttings. — Propagating by small 
cuttings has increased rapidly during the last 
few years. It serves an excellent purpose in 
rapid multiplication of the new varieties 
which are being secured from abroad ; it en- 
ables the grower to handle a large number of 
plants in a small space, and the plants from 
small cuttings have a symmetrical root system 
quite resembling that from a seed. These 
cuttings are made from very small shoots 




Propagating the Olive by small cuttings. 

and both the tips and the lower cuts are used. 
In the engraving the figure on the left is a 
tip cutting ; the next, a cutting lower down 
the shoot. These figures are about natural 
size, and show clearly how the cuttings are 
made. They are placed closely in boxes of 
sand about four inches deep, and after a few 
months are potted in small pots, or may 1k- 
reset farther apart in boxes of soil or in the 
open ground. In January or February, the 
wood seems to be in the best condition in 
.Berkeley, but such condition may come at 
other times in other parts of the State. From 
such cuttings the trees will be of good size 



for ])lan'Ling in permanent place the next 
year. It is very important to take the small 
cuttings just when the wood is ii the right 
condition, not too soft nor too hard. How 
to determine this point can not be described ; 
it must be learned by experience. 

Growi.vc. TuiiiCS FROM Truxcheoxs. — 
Xew varieties secured from the south of 
Europe generally come in the shape of trun- 
cheons, which are long sticks of hard wood. 
They may be planted entire, or be sawn and 
split into large cuttings (for olive cuttings, 
even in firewood shape, will grow if properly 
treated), though better trees come from small 
cuttings. If the truncheons are bedded a few 
inches ,')elow the surface in moist, warm soil, 
shoots will appear which can be worked up 
into small cuttings when they reach the 
proper condition. 

BUDDING THE OLIVE. 

Since the planting of a large area of Red- 
ding Picholines and the fruit found to be that 
of a wild or poor seedling olive and not a 
superior named variety, .there has been a 
demand for working over the trees into 




Olive : Twig-Bud as cut. 



better varieties. More recently many of the 
imported varieties have proved disappointing 
and a change to a variety profitable in the 
region is imperative. The method of budding 
commonly employed with fruit trees does 
not usually yield a high percentage of suc- 
cess with the olive, and other ways have been 
adopted with much better results. 

Budding may be performed at any time 
of the year wlien the sap flows freely. If 



Graftino; the Olive 



282 



California Fruits : 



done late in the summer, the buds he dormant 
through the winter. Best resuhs are obtained 
when the buds are inserted early in the spring, 
as the operation can be performed to a 
much better advantage, and the buds will 
grow to some height before winter. When 
inserted in large orchard trees, or in limbs 
of large trees, the shoots from the inserted 
buds are allowed to grow until they have 
attained such a size as will justify in the re- 
moval of the entire top. 

Twig Budding. — Twig budding is very 
successful. The bud is cut deep into the 
wood, in order to give the bud as much bark 
as possible. The leaves are partly cut off; 
then, with the sharp point of the budding 
knife, the greater part of the wood inside 
of the bud is removed, as shown on page 281, 
If part of the wood is not removed, then the 
bud can not take as the wood in it prevents 
the two barks (the inner bark of the bud 
and the inner bark of the stock) from uniting. 
When the wood has been partly removed 
from the bud, the bud is inserted into the 




Olive: Twig-Bud inserted. 

stock, as budding is done in the regular, or- 
dinary way, and tied tight. A small tip- 
twig may be used or a longer twig, cut back 
to the lowest bud and part of the foliage cut 
away, as shown in the engraving. At the 
end of three or fourweeks thestringis removed, 
and part of the top of the stock is cut back 
to force the bud to start. As the bud grows, 
the foliage of the stock is gradually removed, 
until the bud is able to take up the entire 
flow of sap ; it is then left to grow, and it 
may be protected by tying to a long stub of 



the branch which may be left for that pur- 
pose above the point of insertion. \Vhen the 
bud has grown out strongly, what remains 
of the stock above the bud is cut smooth, 
close to the bud, to allow it to heal over. 

GRAFTING THE OLI\"E. 

Grafting is also used in working over both 
large and small olive trees. Good success 
can sometimes be had with the ordinary 
method of top grafting, as described in 
Chapter IX, using scions not larger than a 
lead pencil and inserting them in April. The 
olive can also be successfully grafted in the 
bark according to the method shown in 
Chapter IX. This graft is used for working 
in the top of the tree, but it may also be 
used at the surface of the ground, covering 
the cut surfaces with earth when the 
scions are in place. The shield grafting to 
which allusion is made has already been de- 
scribed in the preceding chapter, as it works 
well with the fig. Judge A. L. Rhodes, of 
San Jose, gives the following explicit account 
of his success with this graft : — 

The stoclv, wliere cut off. may be from half to two 
and one-half inches in diameter; the scion about 
one-quarter inch in diameter, the lower end to 
be formed b\' an oblique cut of about one and 
one-half inches. Split the bark of tlie top of the 
stock about one inch, raise the bark at the sides 
of the split slightly, insert the point of the scion 
between the bark and wood of the stock, at the 
split, and pres.'s it down the length of its oblique 
cut. Fasten it by binding twine around both stock 
and scion, abcvut ten tiines, very firmly. Apply 
grafting wax to top of stock and scion. 

If the bark of the stock be three or more years 
old, make two slits in it, about one and one-half 
inches in length, the width between them equal- 
ing the width of the oblique cut of the scion, raise 
the bark between the slits, cut ofif about half of 
it by a sloping cut, then insert the scion and 
press it down, and bind with twine and apply graft- 
ing wax, as above directed. Cotton wrapping twine 
is of sufficient strength. 

Stocks the diameter of one inch or more should 
receive two or more scions. Scions gathered a 
short time before their insertion are the most 
successful. The twine around the stock and scion 
should not be loosened until it indents the bark 
of the stock. Protect the graft from sun and wind. 
Wrap paper around stock and scion, the paper to 
extend a few inches above the scion — or place the 
paper, in the form of a bag, over scion and stock — 
and secure the paper with twine, tied around the 
stock in a slip-knot. 

Bark grafting may be performed at any time when 
the bark of the stock can he readily raised — when- 
ever the bark will "slip." I grafted in that mode in 
each week of ."^pril and May and the first of June, 



How to Grow Them 



2S3 Effect of r^Ioist Land 




Distress of the unpruned Olive tree on moist land in California. 



and in September. Failures not S per cent. Twelve ccssful in the spring. I prefer the bark grafting, as 
scions inserted abont the middle of last S'eptember the shield buds may not start for months, or even 
arc all growing. Shield grafting is the most sue- for a year. 



Prunino- the Olive 



284 



California Fruits 



Side Graft on Small Wood. — A satis- 
factory graft can be made with an oblique 
cut, as shown in Chapter IX, which is su- 
perior to a spHt of the stock, because on a 
small stock the split is apt to continue farther 
than desirable when the scion is pushed in. 
With the slanting cut in the stock the scion 
can be iirmly pushed into place without 
splitting. The union of inner barks of scion 
and stock must be made on one side when 
the stock is larger than the scion. This 
graft is tied in and waxed, or a waxed band 
may be used. In working small wood at the 
ground surface, the earth should be drawn 
up around the graft. 

PLANTING THE OLIVE. 

There is nothing gained by planting out the 
olive too early in the spring. Both cuttings 
and rooted plants will do better if planted 
after the soil becomes well warmed, and after 
the heavy rains of the winter are well over. 
Of course the time when this condition corner 
is different from year to year, and varies, 
also, according to locality and situation. 
During the first summer the young plants 
will need occasional watering in some situa- 
tions ; in others, merely mulching, or keeping 
the surface finely stirred, will suffice. 

Olive trees are planted at different dis- 
tances, but the ruling intervals are twenty 
to twenty-five feet. This will allow the trees 
to bear a number of years before they crowd 
each other ; and then removing alternate trees 
gives ample distance for future growth. But 
it is clearly the part of wisdom to hold the 
olive to a low growth in order that the fruit 
may be cheaply gathered, and this may be 
done by j^roper pruning. 

PRUNING THE OLIVE. 

Pruning policies as insisted upon in 
Chapter XII, have direct bearing upon the 
commercinl growth of the olive. The devel- 
opment of the tree according to principles 
there laid down is practicable and desirable. 
After proper low form is secured, satisfac- 
tory bearing will depend upon regular prun- 
ing to secure new bearing shoots and thinning 
to prevent the tree from becoming too dense 
and bushy. The olive bears upon wood 
which grew the preceding year, and upon no 
other. It is just as important, then, to se- 
cure a good supply of such shoots as it is 



to secure new bearing wood for the peach, 
and the ways to do it, by cutting back and 
thinning out, are much the same. Keep the 
tree from running out of reach of a step- 
ladder ; prevent it from becoming a brush- 
heap, for both these acts are essential to the 
growth of good bearing wood, low down. At 
the same time it must be remembered that 
too severe cutting-back forces the growth of 
branches which form only wood buds and 
fruiting is postponed. The secret is to prune 
enough to induce plenty of new growth but 
not so much that excessive, non-bearing, new 
growth results. This result is secured bv 
regular and moderate pruning. 

Trees which have been allowed to form 
umbrella-like tops may be brought down to 
business again by cutting back the main 
limbs and making selection from the many 
new shoots which appear, but by proper, reg- 
ular pruning a tree can be so trained that 
the removal of large limbs is seldom neces- 
sary. The times to prune the olive are just 
after the gathering of the fruit or just before 
new growth starts in the Spring. 

Developing the Vase Form — Explicit 
suggestions as to the development of a low, 
vase-form tree may be helpful to inexpe- 
rienced growers. The following is from a 
foreign writer, whose illustrations are pre- 
sented herewith : 

When the young tree has attained some height, 
it is the practice to cut off the top, so that the main 
stem shall be about four and a half feet in rich 
soil, or three feet in poor soil or in locations ex- 
posed to strong winds. Six or eight branches are 
left to form the head. The process of shaping the 
tree then proceeds, as shown in the engravings. 
Fig. I shows the young tree to be cut off at the 
point marked by the dotted line C. Six branches, 
three on each side, are left, and the lower twigs 
shortened. E-ach of the branches left developes, 
during the year, As the one shown in Fig. 2, 
which is then cut at C again, and the shoots B ajid D 
are shortened. This process starts out the upper shoot, 
and it appears th? following year as A i-i Fig. 3, 
and it is again cut at C. This causes the two upper 
shoots to develop, and at the end of the year they 
appear as shown at BB in Fig. 4. Thus they stand 
at the fourth year's pruning, and each of them is 
cut at C. and A is shortened and D allowed to de- 
velop. By this time the tree h.as a spherical or 
vase form, and exposes much surface to the sun, 
which is desirable. 

The young branches that spring in the form of 
a cross on the more vigorous branches, bear only 
wood buds ; the others, which are weaker, bear fruit 
buds on their whole length and burst into blossom 
at the spring of the second year. The latter never 



How to Grow Them 



285 



Developing the Vase Form 



blossom again in the same place, but the shoot ex- 
tends itself and forces two lateral ones. These 
new shoots bear the following spring, and so on. 
It must therefore be always borne in mind that 




or fruitless shoots, or by reducing in a certain 
proportion, each year, the fruit-bearing shoots, if 
we wish for a crop every year. The shortening 
of a branch is made immediately above an out- 
side bud in an oblique direction, the interior one 
lieing suppressed. The suckers at the root of the 
tree should be continually cut off. 



Fig. 1. 




Fig. 2. 




the olive bears only on the two-year-old wood. 
If the new shoots are formed every year, the olive 
will bear annually; but in years of* good crops, the 
sap employed to nourish the fruit only produces 
a number of very diminutive shoots, and the next 
crop is a short one. The pruning ought to favor 
the growth of young lateral shoots, either by short- 
ening the terminal ones, suppressing the "gonnand," 



Concerning the time for pruning, the best sea- 
son is said to be when the winter frosts are well 
over and just before the sap starts in the spring. 
By early pruning the sap is made to act upon the 
buds unfavorably situated on the tree, brings them 
out. and also develops latent buds on the old wood- 
Thus one is enabled to prevent the tree from be- 
coming covered with n.iked limbs. 



Fruit and its Products 



2S6 



California Fruits 



THE FRUIT AND ITS PRODUCTS. 

The agricultural experiment station of the 
University of California was occupied for 
many }'ears in the growth of olives and 
close examination of olive products both 
by laboratory and practical test. The publi- 
cations of the station discuss the operations 
of oil making and pickling and the suita- 
bility of varieties and for the purpose of 
this treatise outlines will l)e drawn from 
these sources. 

Gathering the Fklut. — Olives should 
be picked carefully and at the right time. 
For green pickles they should be picked very 
soon after they obtain full size, but before 
they have begun to color or soften. For ripe 
pickles and for oil making the fruit should be 
gathered when it contains the maximum 
amount of oil. This is soon after the olives 
are well colored, but before they have attained 
the deep black which signifies overripeness. 
If the olives are gathered too green the oil 
will be bitter; if too ripe, it will be rancid. 
When they can be easily shaken from the 
tree they are ripe enough. If they commence 
to fall without vigorous shaking they are 
overripe. For whatever purposes the olives 
are to be used they should be carefully gath- 
ered by hand, and imperfect, immature, or 
bruised fruit rejected. Sound fruit is re- 
quired fo^- high-grade oil or for handsome 
pickles with good keeping quality. 

THE AIAXUFACTURE OF OLR'E OIL. 

Olive oil is made in this State with ajipa- 
ratus of both Californian and European de- 
sign, and, as a rule, there is made only one, 
and at most but two, pressings of the pomace, 
which is then used for fattening swine. In 
the frequent working over of the pomace, 
and the close extraction of the oil, as prac- 
ticed in Europe, we have done little as yet. 

Olive oil is made on a small scale by a 
number of parties who use home-made con- 
trivances, or small, portable cider machinery 
for the crushing and pressing. During the 
last few years quite a number of mills have 
been erected at several points in California 
and they have made a market for the olives 
produced by growers who do not care 
to undertake manufacture. A detailed ac- 
count of oil making, including descriptions 
of buildings and machinery, has been pub- 



lished hy the University Experiment Sta- 
tion.* As this is available to those who desire 
such specific information, only an outline 
will be undertaken for the information of the 
general reader. 

Drying — Extraction of oil from fresh 
olives gives the best oil, but is somewhat 
troublesome, aijd it is customary to par- 
tially dry them. This partial drying is also 
useful to keep the fruit for some time or 
for shipment before crushing. Place the 
olives in layers not more than three inches 
deep, on trays that are stacked in a dry, 
well-aired i-oom, protected from the wind 
and the direct rays of the sun. Turn daily 
until the fruit becomes well wrinkled. This 
requires about eight or ten days, according 
yj the degree of temperature./' The partially 
dried fruit may be stored in a dark room 
where the temperature does not rise above 
sixty ilegrees Fahrenheit, for three or four 
weeks without any serious deterioration of 
oil. To hasten the drying process, artificial 
dricis, constructed on the same principle as 
the fruit or hop driers, are sometimes used. 
The olives are placed in a single layer upon 
trays, and the drier is kept at a temperature 
of about one hundred and twenty degrees 
Fahrenheit ; at over one hundred and thirty 
degrees Fahrenheit the quality of the oil may 
be impaired. The drying takes about forty- 
eight hours — more or less — according to the 
nature of the fruit. 

Ckishixc. — The olives are usually crushed 
by heavy stone rollers revolving in a circular 
depression in a bed of masonry into which 
the fruit is placed. Crushers with corrugated 
bronze or bronzed metal rollers are now 
made that perform their work in a very 
satisfactory manner, breaking up the flesh 
and pits very thoroughly. As they are all 
of metal, they absorb no oil and are easily 
cleaned. It is very essential that the flesh 
should be crushed thoroughly in order to 
break up the cells and permit the oil to be 
pressed cut. 

Pressing. — When the revolving crusher has 
reduced the olives to a mass, the pomace is 
shoveled up from the bed of the mill and pre- 
pared for pressing. Instead of the fabric of 
woven esparto grass which is used abroad. 



How to Grow Them 



zai 



Settling- and Clarifying 



coarse linen cloth is used. A certain amount 
of the pulp is put in each cloth, so that when 
the cloth is folded back it makes a cheese 
about three feet square and three inches thick. 
Ten or more of these cheeses are placed one 
above the other, with slats between, and the 



tain auK.unt of oil still remains in the 
"cheese," lint it can be extracted only by 
very powerful hydraulic presses, or by chemi- 
cal means, and then is of very inferior qual- 
ity, and suitable only for burning or for 
soap making;. 




Bearing Olive tree before pruning. 



pressure applied gently at first. From the 
liquid which runs out first is made the very 
finest oil, known as "virgin oil." The pres- 
sure is then increased very gradually until 
the full power of the machine is reached. 
This presses out the second quality of oil, 
which is generally mixed with the first. After 
obtaining all the oil possible by the first 
pressure the '"cheese" is taken out, thoroughly 
broken up in hot water, and again pressed. 
This yields the third quality, which is very 
much inferior to the first and second. Some- 
times the "cheese" from the first pressing 
is thoroughly broken up with cold water and 
pressed again before being treated with hot 
water. In this way a little oil is obtained 
that differs little from the second quality, 
and iiia\' be mixed with it. After this a cer- 



Shttlinc; ,\.nu Ci..\kifvixg. — The liquid 
from the press is dark colored, and it is con- 
ducted into a receptacle for settling. Much 
of the foreign matter quickly separates, the 
oil appearing on the top. The oil is removed 
to other receptacles in which it can stand 
from two to five months for perfect separa- 
tion of undesirable sediment. These settling 
tanks may be made of well-tinned metal, or 
of cement lined with glass or other imper- 
vious substance. The first settling is con- 
veniently made by means of a funnel-shaped 
apparatus, which by its conical shape facili- 
tates the rapid deposition of sediment. After 
standing for twenty-four hours in this ap- 
paratus the major part of the sediment is 
deposited and can be drawn ofT at the bot- 
tom. It is well, before running; the oil into 



Pickliusf the Olive 



2S8 



California Fruits : 



the settling- tanks, to pass it througli two or nia. Xo one had any conception at first of 
three inches of cotton wool. This is accom- the difficulties attending the production of 
plished by means of a funnel with a perfo- pickled ripe olives which would have the 
rated, horizontal cross partition, upon which keeping quality demanded in an article of 
the cotton is placed. It takes, generally, commerce. It is now clearly seen that treat- 
about one month for the oil to settle suffi- ing ripe olives to extract the bitterness and 




Bearing Olive tree after pruning. The amount of tfiinning 
can be estimated by the litter on the ground. 



ciently in the first tank, after which it should 
be drawn off carefully into the second, and 
so on until it is sufficiently bright. Three 
rackings are usually sufficient. 

Olives are sometimes ground and pressed 
in portable cider mills or ground in barley 
crushers for oil manufacture on a small 
scale. As the above description shows, oil 
making is a siinple process, and may be car- 
ried on at home with rude devices. It is, 
however, a process requiring care and cleanli- 
ness, and intelligent personal attention. 

PICKLING THE OLIVE. 

Olives are pickled in a green state, as is 
the case with the imported olives ; or in a 
ripe state, as largely undertaken in Califor- 



to secure firmness, good flavor and keeping 
quality is one of the most difficult proposi- 
tions in our horticultural manufacturing, and 
we can but admire the wisdom of the Span- 
iard in teaching Anglo-Saxons to enjoy green 
olives. To succeed with the ripe olive re- 
quires the utmost patience, experience, and 
intelligence, and one who undertakes it must 
not get weary of the most exhaustive study 
of difficulties that may arise and how to meet 
them. When the most careful picklers with 
the best appliances sometimes lose hundreds 
of dollars worth in spite of all they know 
about it. the difficulty of the matter may be 
appreciated. 

The following is an outline of the pickling 
of ripe olives as drawn from the University 
publications : 



How to Grow Them 



289 



\'arieties of the Olive 



The Lye Process. — Tlic vats or other receptacles 
used for pickling should be perfectly clean, odorless, 
and tasteless. Earthenware is the best material, 
but it is cheaper to use wooden receptacles thor- 
oughly treated with boiling water and soda until 
they are sterlized and all taste of the wood re- 
moved. Metal receptacles must not be used. Tlie 
vats should have a plug below to draw off the liquids 
and should be covered to exclude air. They should 
be shallow, so that the layer of olives should not be 
much over a foot in thickness. 

1. Place the olives in a solution, composed of 
two ounces of potash lye to each gallon of very 
pure water, for four hours. Repeat this once, or 
twice if Hceessary, to sufficiently remove the bitter- 
ness. If the olives are soft at first, or if they are 
of a kind that softens rapidly in the lye, use brine 
from the beginning, adding two ounces of lye 
and four ounces of salt to each gallon of water. 
As the lye acts much more slowly when used in 
combination with salt, it inay be allowed to stay 
on the olives for a longer time without injury, 
eight to twelve hours or even more. 

2. Rinse the olives thoroughly and replace the 
lye solution with fresh\watea Change the water 
twice a day, until the lye has been removed from 
the olive, as judged by the taste- Use weak brine 
if the olives are too soft, changing once in two 
days. 

3. Replace the water with brine composed of 
four ounces of salt to a gallon of water and allow 
to stand two days. 

4. Put in brine of six ounces of salt to a gallon 
for se\en days. 

5. Put in brine of ten ounces per gallon for two 
weeks. 

6. Put finally into a brine containing fourteen 
ounces of salt to the gallon of water. 

Much depends upon having pure water. Ditch 
or stream water should be boiled before using. 

Pui-e-Wdter Process. — The best pickled olives are 
made without the use of lye, but this process is 
only practicable with olives whose bitterness is eas- 
ily extracted, and where the water is extremely 
pure and plentiful, and even then it is very slow 
and tedious. It differs from the last process only in 
omitting the preliminary lye treatment. The olives 
are placed from the beginning in pure water, which 
is changed twice a day until the bitterness is suf- 
ficiently extracted. This requires from forty to 
sixty days or more. The extraction is sometimes 
hastened by making two or three shallow, longi- 
tudinal slits in each olive, but this modification, 
besides requiring a large amount of expensive 
handling, renders the fruit peculiarly susceptible to 
bacterial decay and softening. Altogether, the 
pure-water process can not be recommended for 
California, as it is too expensive and uncertain. 

Green Pickles. — Green pickled olives are made by 
essentially the same processes as are u.sed for ripe 
olives. The extraction of the bitterness requires 
the same care. The olives are pickled soon after 
they have attained full size, and before they have 
shown any signs of coloring or softening. They 
contain at this time comparatively little oil, and are 
in every way much inferior to the ripe pickles 
in nutritive value. They are not a food but a rel- 
ish. They arc rather more easily made than the 
ripe pickles, as there is less danger of spoiling. 



CANNING THE RIPE OLIVE. 

The use of heat and hermetical .sealing 
is a recourse to avoid the difficulties of ripe 
pickling and canned olives, ]nit upon the mar- 
ket in the same form as other canned fruits, 
have recently become popular. There are 
special canneries for their preparation at 
several points in the state and the general 
canneries are also handling olives in con- 
siderable quantities. The process is in the 
main like that of canning other fruits but 
special points have to be learned through 
experience. The University investigation of 
the effect of heat on the olive* shows that 
ripe pickled olives, heated to 175 degrees F., 
kept perfectly for thirty-two months. By 
heating them still higher in sealed cans or 
bottles they can be kept indefinitely with as 
great facility as any other food product. The 
heating does not injure the flavor and the 
texture, but, on the contrary, iinproves them. 
Olives preserved by heating do not require 
such strong brine, and it is only necessary 
to add as much salt as the palate requires. 
The heating causes some of the coloring mat- 
ter to diiifuse into the brine, so that the olives 
are made a little lighter colored. With time, 
however, the coloring tnatter diffuses out in 
the same way from unheated olives, so that 
at the end of a year the heated olives are 
actually darker in color than the unheated. 

VARIETIES OF THE OLIVE GROWN 
IN CALIFORNIA. 

Many varieties of the olive have been 
brought to California from southern Etirope 
during the last thirty years. Fifty-seven vari- 
eties have been analyzed and elaborately re- 
ported upon by the University experts, and 
of these about fifteen varieties rose to coin- 
mercial account but several have been 
dropped, as shown by the statements of their 
operations which leading propagators have 
kindly furnished for this work. It is an 
interesting fact, however, that in spite of all 
the eflforts put forth to secure a better olive 
than the old Mission variety, this old sort 
comprises three-fifths of all the planting 
which has been done during the last few 
years — that is>, the Mission has received fifty 
per cent more orders from planters than 
all other sorts combined. Several varieties 



* "Olive Pickliiiff, etc." by F. T. Bioktti. Circular 2''. I'ni- 
rsity Experiment Station, Berkeley. Cal. 



Varieties 



290 



California Fruits : 



at first popular have been abandoned because 
of an interior decay of the pulp. The follow- 
in'^ is the list of the varieties now favored m 
California on a commercial scale, arranged 
approximately in the order of their present 

popularity: 

Mission, Columella, 

Ascolano, Oblitza, 

Sevilkno Oblonga, 

Nevadillo, Uvana, 

Rubra, Pendiihna, 

Manzanillo, Liicques. 
Picholine d'Aix, 

These may be taken, then, as the varieties 
to which attention should be given. Uf 



sinn- ovate, oblique— sometimes very much so— the 
pit straight or slightly curved, fruit very variable 
in size growing singly or in clusters of two or three, 
or even five; time of ripening, late, m the coast 
region sometimes not before February, but gen- 
erally in December: in warm localities, m Novem- 
htr. 

Redding PichoUnc— Imported by the late B. B. 
Redding. A perfect oval in shape, ripens early, 
several weeks earlier than the common Mission ; 
dark purple or black when ripe; m picklmg the 
pulp loses the bitterness quickly, the fruit being 
very pleasant. This variety was propagated ex- 
tensively in the State, and. until fruiting, was sup- 
posed to be a large pickling variety, but it proved 
to be a small seedling— a shoot coming from the 
root below the graft. It has produced oil of good 




sion Olive of California (single Olive natural size). 



course the next few years' experience may 
produce marked changes in this list. 

The Mission Olive— By this name is signified 
the variety found growing at the old missions m 
California." Samples of the fruit and leaves sent 
by F Pohndorff to Don Jose de Hidalgo Toblada, 
a noted Spanish authority on the olive, led to the 
classing of our mission varieties with the Corni- 
cabra-Cornizuelo varieties of Spain, and its value 
was confirmed. It has long been known that the 
so-called Mission olive embraced several varieties, 
or sulj-varieties at least. 

Common or Broad-Leaved Mission Olive.— The 
variety of olive most generally known as the Mis- 



quality. The smallness of the fruit is its irrcme 
diablc defect. 

Picholine d'Aix. — Fruit medium, elongated, taper- 
ing toward apex which is pointed; reddish black 
when ripe. 

Picholine de St. C/ia /noi.— Oblong, reddish black; 
highly esteemed in France for quality when pickled. 

Oi/<7»g((.— Imported bv John Rock from France. 
An olive of a peculiar, club-like shape, being narrovj 
at the stem end, broad at the point, rounded and 
strongly oblique; generally pointed at both ends. 
The pulp loses its bitterness comparatively qviickly 
in pickling. This olive ripens quite early— at least 



How to Grow Til em 



291 



\'arieties 



-two to three weeks earlier 
Mission ; color, dark purple. 



than the Broad-leaved early, several weeks earlier than the I'road-lcaved 
Mission. The fruit grows on long stems. The 
„ , ,. r , ,• ■ , , P"'P parts readily with its bitterness, and is exceed- 

Pciidoulicr.—L3.rge. oval, slightly curved at apex ^„„\y rich when pickled. Excellent in the San Joa- 
■ end; desirable for pickbng: early npenmg m Oc- tji,i„ Vallty both for oil and pickles. 

MaiizanUlo No. 2. — Imported by F. PohndorfT 
from Spain. As the name ("small apple") in- 
dicates, this variety is nearly round, with a pit 
of rounded oval shape, rather squarely cut ofif at 
the base. This variety ripens early — several weeks 
earlier than the Broad-leaved Mission olive; the 
fruit grows generally singly on long stems. 




The Picholine, reduced. 



tober in the interior valley and in November in 
coast valleys. 

Mancanitto No. i. — Imported by F. Pohndorff 
from Spain, large regular rounded oval ; pit straight, 
strongly pointed at the apex, nine-si.\teenths of an 
inch long, five-sixteenths of an inch thick. Ripens 



Gordal. — .'V popular pickling 
diuhi .size, earlv. 



Spain, 




Manzanillo Olive. 



Rtibyci — Imported by John Rock from France; 
ovate, slightly oblique, looks a good deal like a sinal! 
Mission olive; pit straight, pointed; ripens three to 
four weeks earlier than the common Mission variety; 
is of a jet black when ripe. This tree begins to fruit 
quite young, and is a prolific bearer. Very hardy 
and prolific even in dry. situations. 



.llroi'iolacca.- 
ble for oil. 



-Medium size, black, chietlv valua- 



Uz'cviii. — Imported by John Rock from France. 
Oval, re.gular, and rounded on both ends; pit 
straight, heavy, late ; later than the eonmion Mis- 
sion olive; color dark purple or black when ripe. 
The name, "grape-like," is well chosen, the fruit 
growing in clusters, as many as seven together, 
and in shape themselves resembling the grape. Very 
prolific. 



Varieties 



292 



California Fruits 



Pcndiilina. — Imported Ijy John Rock from France. 
An even, oval shape, ronnded at both ends, quits 
variable in size, many fruits remaining; small and 
undeveloped ; pit has small, sharp points often at 
both ends. Fruit grows in clusters of from two 
to five; the pulp parts very readily with its bit- 
terness. Larger and more ovate than Pendou- 
lier. Tree a strong grower ; fruit desirable both 
for oil and pickles. 



young; fruit shiny black, curved; product called 
"Crescent Olive." 

Ncvadillo Blanco. — Imported by F. Pohndorff 
from Spain. Oval, slightly oblique, pointed, re- 
sembling somewhat a Mission, but is generally more 
elongated in proportion to its diameter than the 
latter; pit small, curved, and generally pointed at 
both ends; the fruit is borne in clusters of three 




Sevillano, or Queen Olive. 



Coluinbclla. Imported by John Rock from 
France. General form, broadly oval ; very even in 
size, remarkable for the peculiar pale yellow color 
which all the frut assumes before turning fully 
ripe and becoming dark purple ; pit small, strai.ght 
and sharp pointed; the pLilp contains little bitter- 
ness; flavor very rich; ripens late, later than the 
Broad-leaved Mission. Tree hardy in dry places 
and a prolific bearer. 

Polymorpha. — Imported by . John Rock from 
France. Very large, ovate, oblique, and pointed ; 
light colored ; pit square at the base, strongly point- 
ed at the apex; flesh firm; ripens very early; fruit 
grows on strong stems in clusters of two or three. 
Tree not a strong grower, but productive. 

Lncqucs. — A variety specially adapted for pickling, 
though producing oil of good quality ; strong-grow- 
ing tree and hardy ; sometimes shy bearer when 




Ascolano Olive. 

to five; ripening not much earlier than the Mission; 
a fine oil olive, largely planted, but disappointing 
in some regions as a shy bearer and subject to frost 
injury. 

Ot/(7.;Ta.— Imported by the late G. N. Milco from 
Dalmatia; resembles the Pendouher, andmaybeiden 
tical ; fine in the San Joaquin Valley; very large 
nval, but broad and rounded at both ends ; grows 
in clusters ; tree a good grower, hardy and pro- 
ductive; fruit excellent for pickles; ripens in No- 
vember in the interior — about the same as the Mis- 



ScviUano. — Recently largely planted as the vari- 
ety exported from Spain as the "Queen olive.'' The 
largest of all olives; only useful for pickling; when 
ripe, bluish black; clingstone. Tree a strong grow- 
er, leaves deep green, greenish white underneath. 
Described by Mr. Roeding as a regular bearer, 
liut requires deep, rich, well-drained soil and will 
not stand much cold. 

Ascolano. — "White olive of Ascoli." Very large, 
"large as a French prune and much like one in 
shape" (Biolctti). Excellent for pickles, but not 
desirable in color of either green or ripe pickles. 

The forep;oing enumeration and description 
of varieties is only partial and mainly restrict- 
ed to varieties which have been more or less 
largely planted. Many more have been ex- 
perimentally fruited, but the tendency is to 
concentrate on very few which have made 
good in California and there is far less in- 
terest in varieties than a quarter of a cen- 
tury ago. The following are the leading 
facts as to size, pit, and oil contents of the 



How to Grow Them 



293 



Averaees Determined 



varieties which have been most largely 
planted, and a few others : 



For this reason the 
do full justice to 



followins^ table may not 
^onie varieties, but rcla- 



iiined at the 


Universilv of California. 


Number of 




Oil. percent. 


Olives 


Pit. per cent 




per pound. 




wliolc fruit. 


111.6 


17 2 


17.56 


157 3 


17 3 


19 21 


106.6 


14 7 


16.94 


398 2 


23.0 


16.18 


205.1 


25 5 


13.71 


196 1 


17 9 


18.58 


179.4 


18.7 


13 34 


114 6 


16 6 


15 59 


157 1 


13.7 


18 63 


719 


17.1 


15.85 


72.8 


17 5 


14 70 


112 5 


16 3 


16 37 


262 7 


2 .8 


21.15 


216.5 


24 3 


21.10 


298 9 


2.T 9 


24.10 


192 9 


21.1 


27.22 


245.5 


21 7 


22 45 


242.3 


25 7 


23.96 


272.1 


22.2 


29.34 


375.0 


30.0 


19 31 


192.9 


23 


14.81 


77.0 


17.6 


17 83 


60.6 


12.0 


16.26 


105 2 


14 6 


11.23 


111.4 


15.7 


19.86 


36.2 


14.5 


17.23 



Mission 

Nevadillo Blanco. . . 

Manzanillo 

Redding Picholine. 

Uvaria 

Rubra 

Oblonga 

Colunibella 

Penduliiia 

Polymorpha 

Macrocarpa 

Regalis 

Correoiolo 

Razzo 

Frantoio 

Cucco 

Leccino 

Grossaio 

Palazzuolo 

Infrantoio 

Lucques 

Picholine 

Ascolano 

Oblitza 

Empeltre 

Sevillano 



It should be remembered that olives vary 
in size according to growing conditions which 
environ the tree, just as other fruits do. 



tively it should be accurate enough for most 
comparative uses. 




The Oranoe Industn 



294 



California Fruits : 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



THE ORANGE: KING OF CALIFORNIA FRUIT. 



T^HE orange leads all the fruits of C'alifor- 
* nia. Xear the dose of Chapter VI will 
he found the figures of numbers of trees, 
acreage and value of product shipped out 
of the state, upon which tiie supremacy of the 
orange rests. In view of this leadership it 
seems fitting to take a little wider range in 
the discussion of the significance of the or- 
ange in the development of California than 
has been indulged in the consideration of 
other fruits, and this is justified by the fact 
that the orange is the exponent of the horti- 
cultural resources of the state and its attri- 
butes in this direction are shared in varying 
degrees by the other fruits. The greatness 
of orange growing in California becomes, 
then, in various ways the token of our ad- 
vancement in one of the highest of the agri- 
cultural arts, and in the mastery of long-dis- 
tance commercial distribution of fresh fruits. 
These achievements are also a demonstration 
of the quality of our agricultural citizenshii).* 

THE ORANGE INDUSTRY OF THE 
WORLD. 

From the beginning the orange has reigned 
as king in the international fruit trade of the 
world. The grape has always been and is 
still, greater in the value of its contribution 
to commerce and in the distance it safely 
traverses, but the grape rules not as fruit, 
but through its manufactured products, while 
the orange carries its natural beauty, fra- 
grance and flavor unchanged around the 
world. From the earliest times the orange 
has not only been accepted in northern climes 
as a symbol of tropical and sub-tropical salu- 
brity and sumptuousness, but by its own 
distinctive characteristics as a fruit it has 
won recognition as befitting the highest uses 



* The Orange Industry "Encyclopedia .<inierieana." Scien- 
tific American, New York. 1904. "The Orange in Northern and 
Central California," California State Board of Trade. San Fran- 
cisco, 1903, etc. bv the author. 



of mankind. By its nature too the orange 
ministers to its own commercial popularity. 
It endures long shipment ; it ripens slowly 
and through a season of several months 
which constitute the winter in northern lati- 
tudes when local fruits are scant or absent 
and the refreshment in the citric juices most 
welcome. The production of such a com- 
mercial commodity has from the earliest 
times constituted an important industry. 

It is a significant fact that though the or- 
ange thrives in the tropics it does not resent 
the slight touch of frost which characterizes 
semi-tropical situations. It is also significant 
that the fruit grown in semi-tropical coun- 
tries, especially those which have a more or 
less distinctly marked two-season climate, 
differs in character from the strictly tropical 
orange and is firmer, heavier, more sprightly 
in flavor and with much better keeping and 
carrying qualities. The tropical orange has 
Imt small commercial importance ; the semi- 
trojjical orange rules in the markets of the 
world. That the semi-tropical orange should 
have this distinctive character is most for- 
tunate, for it ministers directly to the will 
for industr\- which is superior in semi-tropical 
countries. By the seven degrees of frost 
which the orange tree will endure without 
injury, it has gained the seventy degrees of 
north latitude through which its fruit freely 
seeks a market. Because, though the tropi- 
cal orange would reach most distant markets 
in small quantities, it could never attain the 
commercial supremacy which the fruit now 
enjoys. 

The sweet orange is a native of eastern 
Asia and was carried thence to India and to 
Asia Minor. It possibly reached Portugal 
from India through the early Portuguese 
navigators. Thus the distribution of tlie fruit 
was westward. The history of modern com- 
mercial orange growing consists of a series 
of progressive movements always trending 
westward and gainino; in volume — the newer 



How to Grow Them 



295 



Commercial Position 



centers of production outstripping the older 
and ultimately largely displacing their prod- 
uct from the greatest markets of the upper 
divisions of the temperate zone. When the 
Moors introduced orange growing into Al- 
geria and Spain they displaced the traffic 
from Asia Minor and 'gave the Mediterranean 
region for several hundred years undisputed 
possession of the markets of the north of 
Europe and possession also of the American 
demand when that arose. When the Span- 
iards and Portuguese carried the orange to 
the West Indies and to Florida they laid the 
foundation for an industry which American 
enterprise developed in Florida until that 
district not only contended with the Medi- 
terranean region for American markets, but 
was planning to invade northern Europe by 
direct shiploads when the demonstration came 
that the climate of northern Florida and of 
the Gulf coast westward was too treacherous 
for commercial ventures in orange growing — 
at least with the then popular varieties and 
methods of propagation. But as the Florida 
supply failed through the severe freezing 
of 1895, California came forward and is now 
not only supplying four-fifths of the oranges 
consumed in the United States, btit is selling 
the highest priced oranges in the London 
market against a world of competitors. 

REL.\TION OF SOUTHERN CALIFOR- 
NIA TO THE WORLD'S ORANGE 
PRODUCT. 

Competition with the product of California 
is working hardship in the Mediterranean 
region because this region can more than 
supply Europe, and needs American markets 
as an outlet. Italy has exported six million 
dollars worth of oranges and lemons in a 
year, but recently prices have declined and 
the interest is depressed. Every eiifort is 
being made to secure relief from local taxa- 
tion and from duties imposed by north Euro- 
pean countries. The Spanish product of or- 
anges and lemons which ranks next to the 
Italian, has to meet heavy tariflfs in all coun- 
tries except the United Kingdom and the 
lielief at Valencia is (U. S. Commercial Re- 
lations, Vol. 2, igo2, page 686) that the 
limit of British consumption of \'alencia or- 
anges at paying rates has been reached ; in 
fact, the British markets collapsed under the 
heavy shipments of 1901. When it is stated 



that the value of oranges imported into the 
United Kingdom in 1900 was $10,603,950, 
and such a free buyer has more than enough, 
it can be realized how important it is to the 
Mediterranean producers that the populous 
countries of central Europe should hold less 
strictly to agrarian interests which aim to 
hamper the entrance of food supplies even if 
they cannot themselves produce them. Mani- 
festly the American product can only enter 
such markets with a fancy product which 
will win an extra price, except as a little 
difference in the ripening season may aflford 
an opportunity. 

The commercial position of the orange in 
the United States is also stich as to awaken 
apprehension. The present strength of the 
situation lies in the protective tariff and the 
bctc iioir of growers is the possibility of 
making gaps in it by reciprocity treaties. 
The product of the West Indies i.- a direct 
menace to the Florida product, which meets 
it in point of market season, and the Mexi- 
can product, which is undergoing expansion 
at the hands of American capitalists, is con- 
stantly feared by the California growers be- 
cause the Mexican railway will give it quick 
entrance to the great central States and con- 
sequent advantage in distribution to the east 
and the northwest. The orange from the 
West Indies and South Florida is different 
from the California orange in main ripening 
season and in character of the fruit, but the 
differences do not give full relief. With the 
late ripening varieties, the California grower 
extends his shipments into the autumn and 
thus laps upon the early fruit from Florida 
and Jamaica, while the parts of California 
which bring earliest maturity to the fruit 
are shipping before the southern fruit is 
cleared away. In fact, California can keep 
the markets supplied with oranges fresh 
from the trees and in prime condition the 
year around. 

As to the dift'erence in oranges grown un- 
der humid and arid conditions, the moisture 
being supplied by rainfall in one case and 
by irrigation in the other, there has been 
shown in the arid region orange a superior 
density, thinness and texture of rind, higher 
sugar and higher acid percentages and a more 
sprightly or vinous flavor. The popular con- 
ception of the superior sweetness of the or- 
ange grown in humid countries is due not 
to a greater amount of sugar in the juice, 



The Orancje a State Affair 



296 



California Fruits : 



but to less amount of acid. The following 
are the detemiinations of sugar and acid of 
fully ripe Southern California and Florida 
navel oranges : 



Total sugar, Citric acid, 

per cent. per cent. 

California Navel 9.99 1.45 

Florida Navel 7.46 0.95 

Of course, the quality of an orange is 
largely inherent in ■ the variety, but all vari- 
eties are similarly changed by growth under 
humid or arid conditions of climate and soil, 
and this modification becomes a factor of 
much industrial importance. This fact is 
.strikingly illustrated by the standing of the 
Navel orange in California. This variety 
has been grown for a century or more as the 
chief orange in Bahia, Brazil, whence it was 
taken to California. In Brazil it demon- 
strated no shipping qualities, and according 
to Burke ( L'. S. Special Consular Reports, 
Vol. I, page 411) would need to be picked 
before maturity if to be shipped, while as 
grown in California and Arizona it is picked 
at full maturity and is successfully shipped 
all over the United States and to Europe. 

Orange growing in Florida is recovering 
from serious reverses. The product of 1894 
was about 6,000,000 boxes. Then came the 
■disastrous freezing in December of 1894 and 
February, 1895, with a temperature of 14 
degrees Fahrenheit at Jacksonville and in the 
latter year only 75,000 boxes were shipped. In 
1907 the product was about 3,000,000 boxes 
produced in the central and southern parts of 
the State. In Louisiana the freezing of 1895 
nearly annihilated the citrus fruit interest 
and there is thus far no disposition to re- 
sume production on a commercial scale. In 
the southwestern corner of Arizopa there is 
a small orange industry which is successfully 
shipping Navel oranges to distant markets. 
Conditions favor early ripening and an ad- 
vantage is secured by sale in advance of the 
main California product. From California 
the shipments of oranges beyond State lines 
in 1907 were about 30,000 carloads or 12,- 
000,000 boxes. The orange industry of the 
United States is now largely supplying the 
home deinand for the fruit. Imports of or- 
anges reached their highest value in 1883 at 
$3,010,662, and have since then declined. 



The value in 1907 was $354,495 — but little 
more than one-tenth of the imports of twenty- 
five years ago. 

The orange industry of the Llnited States is 
unique in the high social and financial stand- 
ing of those who have engaged in it, and in 
the striking features of its development. 
Pioth in Florida and in California large scale 
production was first undertaken by northern 
men who had gained wealth and had lost 
health in the pursuit of it. They brought 
cajiital and commercial ability to the ventures 
which they exploited. The professional 
classes of the north also participated largely 
in the work, bringing scholarship, insight and 
experience in organization. There were a 
few also who possessed horticultural experi- 
ence, l.iut the other classes largely predom- 
inated. The result has been the development 
of an industry characteristically American in 
spirit and new in methods. It has borrowed 
very little from the practices of old world 
orange growers. Free from tradition and 
prejudice it proceeded rapidly upon the re- 
sults of original investigation and experiment, 
establishing a systein of culture and of com- 
mercial handling of the product which are 
without precedent in the older orange regions 
of the world. 

THE ORANGE A STATE AFFAIR IN 
CALIFORNIA. 

Thus far the discussion has been based 
upon the achievements of Southern California 
and the efifort made to assign them due credit 
for greatness atid uniqueness. The relation 
of Southern California to other parts of the 
State in orange growing is not less important 
and significant. 

Citrus fruit trees have been successfully 
grown in suitable situations in northern Cali- 
fornia for nearly half a century. There is a 
famous orange tree at Bidwells Bar, in Butte 
county, which was started from an Acapulco 
seed in Sacramento in 1855, 'i"'! planted out 
in Butte county in 1859, which has been 
generally made to stand sponsor for the dem- 
onstration of citrus conditions north of the 
Tehachipi mountains, but it is not entitled to 
all the distinction which has been heaped upon 
it. In the fifties there were other orange and 
lemon trees growing in widely separated 
northern localities — in the valleys of the San 
Francisco Bav region, also near the rivers 




A perfectly grown two-year budded citrus tree. 



How to Grow Them 



29: 



Excessive Irrigation Harmful 



and among the low foothills on both sides 
of the Sacramento \alley. It was, even in 
early days, the proper thing to include citrus 
trees among ornatnental dooryard plantings 
and one reason why the demonstration at 
Bidwells Bar was so widely accepted as com- 
plete, when it was brought forward as a 
guaranty for commercial planting in the later 
eighties, was because similar instances of 
successful old trees existed in many and wide- 
ly separated places. 



cessive growth of tree and large, coarse fruit. 
The natural tendency of such a root, exag- 
gerated by excessive irrigation in the nur- 
sery, gave a stem as thick as a broom stick 
and higher than a man in a few months 
time, and these soft monstrosities were sent 
north by carloads, by astute tree speculators 
and sold to unwary planters, who thought 
they were getting a great deal for their 
money. Such trees were planted in all sorts 
of situations and their broad leaves made 




Orange grove sown to cover crop for green manuring 



This question naturally suggests itself: 
W'hy, if such early demonstration was had, 
was large conmiercial planting of the orange 
delayed at the north until after southern Cali- 
fornia become famous for its orange product ? 
Several good reasons can be adduced. In 
the first place a disposition toward wider 
planting did at one time arise and quickly 
subsided. In the later seventies when the 
.general rush to fruit growing, which has 
resulted in the present vast extension of the 
interest, began, citrus fruits were not over- 
looked. There was a sharp demand for 
orange trees. Southern California nurseries 
had a large overstock of trees budded on 
China lemon roots which southern California 
planters had learned to despise as forcing ex- 



a fine dis])lay as soon as planted. There- 
were fond anticipations of evergreen orchards 
everywhere from the swamps to the hillsides. 
Then came the cold winter of 1878-9. The 
temperature in places reasonably situated was 
not very low — not lower than is frequently 
encountered in southern California and not 
low enough to injure well placed old trees, 
though it did destroy some ill-placed ones 
and helped to define suitable situations for cit- 
rus culture in the north as such temperatures 
have also defined them at the south. But 
the degree reached was fatal to those soft 
trees on a lemon foundation almost every- 
where, and the disappointment of the new 
planters who based calculations upon them, 
discouraged them from farther elTorts toward 



Increasino- Sliipnients 



298 



California Fruits: 



citrus culture for some time. It was not a 
logical conclusion because a careful inquiry 
made after the frosts in 1879 elicited careful 
written statements from sixty-nine orange 
o-rowers. living in thirty counties and fully 
•justified this conclusion, which was at that 
time published : "this mass of testimony shows 
that orange growing is no longer an experi- 
ment in the north, and that, notwithstanding 
the severe frosts of such winters as tiiis, or- 
ange and lemon trees can be profitably culti- 
vated in nearly every county in the State, 
and bv selecting favorable localities, no dis- 
trict, except it be situated in the high Sierra, 
need be without these most beautiful and 
useful fruits."' 

But there was another and more logical 
reason why the well suited lands in the cen- 
tral part of the State were not at that time 
given to citrus fruit culture. Citrus fruits 
require irrigation everywhere ; deciduous 
fruits, including the grape, do not require 
irrigation except in places of shallow soil 
or light rainfall. Without waiting for irriga- 
tion facilities then, hundreds of thousands of 
acres of deep valley loams were immediately 
available for the planting of deciduous fruits. 
The growers understood these fruits, while 
the orange to an English speaking people was 
an unsolved problem. The long list of de- 
ciduous fruits had varieties to suit the tastes 
and ambitions of all planters and the oppor- 
tunitv for selling many different fruits and 
their different products seemed illimitable. 
"The world for a market" seemed a reason- 
able proposition, for deciduous fruits and 
their products had been shipped to eastern 
markets since the first overland railway was 
opened in 1868. and very large prices were at- 
tained, just often enough to be alluring. No 
citrus fruits had been shipped out of the State 
on a commercial scale, and no one knew that 
they could be, profitably. The central and 
northern districts threw their full strength 
into the deciduous fruit interest and the re- 
sult has justified the effort, for, at the present 
time, the annual shipments of deciduous or- 
chard fruits fresh, dried and canned; the 
grape both fresh, as raisins and as wine and 
brandy, has reached a total value of about 
forty millions of dollars — almo.st all of it 
from the regions of California north of the 
Tehachipi mountains. The engrossing re- 
quirements of this grandly successful under- 



taking gave northern growers, packers and 
capitalis'ts no leisure to think seriously of 
citrus fruit planting — that was left for a 
decade and a half to the special attention of 
the southern California people and they devel- 




Vabncia Late Orange. 

oped it splendidly for the settlement and up- 
liuilding of their' portion of the State— reach- 
ing a total value of product sold beyond 
State lines, of about eighteen millions of dol- 
lars. The chief reason then why, although 
citrus adaptations were demonstrated very 



M 



How to Grow Them 



299 



Supply and Demand 



early in the upper parts of the State, the 
commercial planting was largely postponed to 
the present decade, was that the people were 
too busy developing a greater fruit industry 
to which their conditions were superlatively 
suited. 

During the last few years new interest has 
arisen in citrus fruit growing in northern 



and some of the early glamour has gone 
out of it. It will henceforth proceed soberly, 
and consequently safely, to grand aggregates 
which no one can foresee, but it is readily 
demonstrable that with the present rush of 
population to the more wintry districts of the 
F'acific slope, the opening of .\siatic com- 
ncctions and the victories being attained each 




Precocity of the Budded Orange tree in California. 



Califortiia and all the scattered experiences 
of the last half century are becoming of in- 
estimable value in guiding this planting 
aright. There are several iiuportant reasons 
why the north has now turned to the orange. 
I-"ir<t : Deciduous fruit production has 
reachcil large volumes, margins have become 
reduced to those which assert themselves in 
any well established and extensive industry 



}car in the distant East and in Europe, our 
production of deciduous fruits aitd their prod- 
ucts will go steadily forward. Increased in- 
terest in citrus fruit planting in northern 
California is in no sense a luenace to the 
deciduous fruit industry. it is merely a 
new graft upon a very vigorous industrial 
stock. 



Profitable Productiou 



300 



California Fruits : 



Second : Owing to natural conditions which 
will be briefly explained presently, orange 
growing can be pursued at the north without 
competition with the main crop in southern 
California. The northern California crop 
will be constimed before the bulk of the 
southern crop moves from the trees. 

Third: All California oranges have char- 
acteristics and qualities which are recognized 







Young Valencia Late Orange tree. 

as of distinctive excellence and therefore. 
have a commercial advantage, which, under 
a wise system of protection against free en- 
try of cheap tropical fruit, enables them to 
compensate the high grade American labor 
which is employed in their growth, packing 
and marketing, and leave a reasonable return 
to requite the grower's effort and investment. 
This being so, the production, so long as pro- 
tection is continued, justifies extension of the 
effort to produce an American orange for 
Americans. 



Fourth : Semi-tropical fruits are nature's 
demonstration of the existence in a place 
of a climate which promotes health, comfort 
and a maximum of physical and intellectual 
attainment in mankind. Probably all that is 
urged against tropical climates as enervating 
and depressing of human standards is true, 
Init not a word of it applies to an arid semi- 
tropical climate, in which the blessing of 
dry air and freedom from the debilitating 
effect of temperature extreines rejuvenate the 
old and weary and bring the young to stature 
and stalwartness which all newcomers notice 
in the rising generation of Californians. Of 
the existence of such conditions a well-grown 
orange of the California type is unimpeach- 
able evidence. It has brought a hundred 
thousand people and a hundred millions of 
capital to southern California which would not 
have come otherwise. In the conscious 
strength with which northern California has 
recently awakened to make systematic eiifort 
for settlement and development, the orange 
is accepted as an exponent of the possession 
of those natural characters of sky and air 
and soil, constituting the most desirable en- 
vironments of human life — the highest de- 
sirability in the location of a home. 

Fifth : It is but a corollary of the fore- 
going that the successful and profitable pro- 
duction of citrus fruits is par excellence the 
motive force in promoting colony efforts and 
in drawing into horticulture the class of peo- 
ple which constitutes the most desirable 
element in the upbuilding of a great State — 
])eople who know what is noble and desirable 
in human life and desire it for their children ; 
people who know how to secure what their 
aspirations and tastes approve ; people who 
by intellectual force and training and by stic- 
cessfu! professional and industrial experience 
are prepared for attainment in the higher 
horticultural arts and in the new commercial 
efforts which make those arts profitable. The 
splendid development of southern California 
communities upon a horticultural basis points 
the way to achievements in other suitable 
parts of the State, and the citrus fruits be- 
come then the token, not alone of superior 
natural endowments, but of the type of man- 



How to Grow Them 



301 



Senii-Tropical Temperature 



hood which can use them to the best advan- 
tage. None know this better than the south- 
ern California people themselves, and it is a 
demonstration of the desirability both of the 
natural resources of northern California in 
citrus lines and of citrus fruit culture itself, 
that in all the newer citrus regions at the 
north, there are to be found among the 
leading planters and promoters, southern Cali- 
fornians who have sold their early plantings 
at the south at high prices to newer comers 
and have started anew in the northern dis- 
tricts, where they find cheaper land, more 
abundant water supply and fruit which is 
marketed at an earlier date. 



DISTRIBUTION OF CITRUS CONDI- 
TIONS IN CALIFORNIA. 

The claim has been made above that citrus 
culture conditions exist in suitable situations 
in central and northern California from Shas- 
ta to San Diego county, and historical evi- 
dence has been cited to prove it. It is so 
surprising that practically the same climate 
should be found through a distance of be- 
tween sev.en and eight degrees of latitude that 
many, even of those who have lived in Cali- 
fornia, do not appreciate the fact, nor know 
the explanation of it. An effort is made 
toward such explanation in Chapter I of 
this work. Even at the risk of repetition the 
subject will be reviewed with special refer- 
ence to the occurrence of conditions affecting 
the growth of citrus fruits. 

First : California is not only blessed with 
benign ocean influences, but northern Cali- 
fornia is additionally protected from low 
winter temperatures by the mountain barrier 
of the Sierra Nevada, extending southward 
from the multiplied masses of protecting 
elevations in the Shasta region, while south- 
ern California enjoys the protection of the 
Sierra Madre and other uplifts on the north 
and east of her citrus region. Northern 
blizzards are, therefore, held back from en- 
trance to California and are forced to con- 
fine themselves to southerly and easterly 
directions over the interior parts of the Pacific 



slope, while the great blizzards of the north- 
west traverse the Mississippi valley and, if 
they have sufficient impetus, extend to the 
gulf and carry destruction to semi-tropical 
growths even in northern Florida. The ocean 
then bringing warmth and the high moun- 
tains defending against cold, combine their 
influences to give nearl\- the whole length of 




Paper Rind St. Michael. 



California semi-tropical winter temperatures. 
Second : Although this striking similarity 
does exist, in citrus districts north and south, 
there is another even more startling proposi- 
tion involved and that is the influence exerted 
by the presence of the coast range as the 
western boundary of the great interior valley 
of the State, and intervening between that 
great valley and the ocean. The several 
ridges of the coast range with their enclosed 
small vallcvs serve as a colossal wind-break 



Local Topography 



302 



California Fruits 



against northwest winds, which might other- 
wise, now and again, bring a temperature 
too low for citrus fruits, where now they 
are safe from injury. The chief effect of 
these mountains is to protect the northern 
interior valleys and foothills from the raw- 
winds of early springftime and to allow the 
sun as he crosses each day higher in his 
course, to expend the increasing heat directly 
in promoting vernal verdure. The result 
is a protected interior region in central and 
northern California, of quick growth in all 
lines — early pasturage, early grain harvest 
and early fruit ripening. The valleys of 
southern California, which have thus far been 
largely developed, have no high range be- 
tween them and the ocean. They are open 
on the west because the coast range of moun- 
tains takes a sharp turn eastward in the 
southern part of the State and afterward 
curves southward, passing along the eastern 
side of the chief productive region. The in- 
fluence of this opening of the valleys of 
southern California is not so unfavorable 
as such opening would be at the north, be- 
cause ocean winds are gentler and warmer 
there, and there is winter service rendered 
by this eastward trend of the southern Cali- 
fornia mountains, as has been said, l)ut the 
fact remains that the absence of high barriers 
against ocean influences retards the spring- 
time and causes a slow development of sum- 
mer conditions and late ripening of fruits, 
\\hile the presence of high barriers at the 
north so hastens springtime and summer 
heat, that early summer fruits in Cali 
fornia are shipped from the north to the 
south — a thing which does not occur any- 
where else in the northern hemisphere. 
Tt is due to this same early start which the 
local topography gives to tne orange, fol- 
lowed by the high summer heat which is es- 
sential to the development of a good orange, 
that the orange reaches an acceptable com- 
mercial condition at an earlier date in suitable 
interior places at the north and is at present 
being almost wholly shipped to eastern mar- 
kets before free movement begins at the 
south. This early marketing also relieves 
the growers of much anxiety and costlv 



frost fighting, because the fruit, which is 
always more susceptible to injury than the 
tree, is out of the way before the frost 
period, which usually begins about Christ- 
mas, is reached. 

There is in southern California, east of the 
mountains, a district which has thus far 
been but scantily developed where protection 
from ocean influences tends to early ripening 
of fruits. The same is true of some parts 
of Arizona adjacent, and small quantities 
of early fruits move westward and north- 
ward from that region. That region is not 
in view in this disctission, for too little has 
hjeen accomplished in citrus lines to warrant 
conclusions which the present confident plant- 
ing in that part of the State will soon sup- 
ply. 

Third : .Still another feature of local topog- 
raphy must be mentioned as influencing 
citrus conditions north and south and ex- 
plaining why winter temperature has fallen 
no lower at the north than at the south. 
At the north the snow fields of the high 
mountains are farther from the valleys and 
mesas, where citrus fruits are grown than 
they are at the south. The benches and 
low foothills of the Sacramento Valley for 
instance are forty to fifty miles from the 
high range to the east of them and there 
intervene countless ridges of high foothills 
and small valleys, and before the citrus 
plantations can be reached by the descending 
air currents they are considerably warmed 
liy rustling over so much land which has been 
warmed by the ample winter sunshine. From 
many of the southern citrus regions one 
looks almost directly upward and outward 
upon the grand snow-clad mountains, whose 
crests are but fifteen to twenty-five miles 
away. It is a splendid scenic efifect — ripening 
oranges and dazzling snow fields in the same 
glance of the eye. but it is sometimes not 
so grand as a pomological proposition. 

Fourth : Another protective influence for 
citrus fruit trees during the frosty period 
of December and January, is the low canopy 
of land fog which covers the interior valley 
of central and northern California much of 
the time at that season of the year and checks 
the radiation of ground heat, which is apt 
to take place rapidly under a clear sky. 
Though the nights are thus often protected 



How to Grow Them 



303 



Outlook for the Orang-e 



from frosts, the day temperature is hekl low 
which is also of account because the citrus 
trees are held dormant, which is desirable 
as there is no fruit to ripen. On the other 
hand the higher day temperature in south- 
ern California is valuable in that district be- 
cause the later fruit is still maturing. The 
winter aspects of the trees in northern and 
southern California are therefore quite differ- 
ent : in the north, the dark green of dor- 
mancy ; in the south the gold of the fruit 
and the oft-protruding light green of the 
winter wood growth. In both regions all 
growth conditions seem good : each after its 
own kind and the two, in a sense, comple- 
mentary. 

In 1908 the outloook is for rapid exten- 
sion of the orange product, particularly in 
the suitable lands on the eastern rims of the 
San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys. The 
orange product of the northern district is 
about one-eighth of the southern and will in- 
crease rapidly for of about two million trees 
now growing, only half have attained bearing 
age and planting is still being freely under- 
taken. Three-quarters of all the trees north 
of the Tehachipi mountains are in the citrus 
districts of eastern Tulare county. 

THE GENERAL OUTLOOK FOR THE 
ORANGE. 

.\t the present time orange growing has 
a very promising outlook. The prospect for 
nnich larger consumption, at the east and 
abroad, is very encouraging. The orange 
is jiassing from its old status as a luxury 
to its proper recognition as a staple winter 
fruit for dwellers in cold climates. For such 
use the agreeable acid and sprightly flavor 
of the California fruit especially commend 
it. The consumption of the fruit per capita, 
away from California, is still small and will 
be greatly increased when people know 
better its desirability and the reasonable 
prices at which it can be secured. This 
wider distribution is to be confidently ex- 
jK'cted and the rapid increase in population 
through the great west and north is each 
year giving California growers nearer mar- 
kets of growing consumptive capacity. It 
will be of great advantage to the whole 
country, as well as to California, to have 
production steadily increased. 



The development of the orange indu.str}' 
in California to utilize the splendid natural 
adaptations which have been discussed, to 
make good the large investments which have 
been made, and to afiford a field for the 
profitable employment of the high quality 
of American citizenship which has entered 
the list of producers, several things are 
essential. First, the advancement of horti- 
cultural art and science. Second, the main- 
tenance of the protective tariff, as has already 
been suggested. Third, the extension of 
co-operative handling and distribution of the 
product as now embodied in the successful 
operation of the California Fruit Growers 
Exchange and its auxiliaries in all the pro- 
ducing districts. Fourth, the pursuit of 
systematic and intelligent inquiry and 
experiments into the durability of the fruit 
in transit as affected by cultural and commer- 
cial practices, and the reformation of policies 
and methods in accordance with the results 
of such investigation as conducted by Mr. 
G. Harold Powell of the United States 
Department of Agriculture and his asso- 
ciates. Every grower of oranges should 
familiarize himself with this work.''' 

SOILS AND SITUATIONS FOR THE 
ORANGE. 

While citrus conditions do exist through 
large areas of California, there is still danger 
of loss and disappointment through unwary 
individual investments and unwise locations 
of citrus colony enterprises. The tracts of 
land for orange planting even in a favorable 
citrus climate are limited in area and every 
citrus climate has numerous places where 
local meteorological conditions will prove 
destructive to the profit of the enterprise, 
if not to the life of the trees. The orange 
is a hardy tree, jtidged within its temperature 
limits, but there is no money in a tree which 
is subjected to any kind of hardship. For 
this reason the selection of a good depth of 
strong, free loam should be made, for such 
is essential not only to good growth of the 
young tree, but to its support through the 
long productive life which the orange enjoys. 
Depth of good soil is not only a store house 



* "The Decay of OrauKes Whilf in Transit from California." 
It.v G. Harold Powell. Pomolojrist in char.ie of Kruit Transpor- 
tation and .Storairc, Bulletin i:j, nnre.in of Plant Industrv, U. 
S. Dept. of Aur., Washinctnn, D. C, 190S. 



Propagation of the Orange 



304 



California Fruits 



of plant food, which will postpone the use 
of purchased fertilizers, but it is a reservoir 
of water so that irrigation can be applied in 
larger amounts at longer intervals. While 
it is quite possible to grow an orange tree 
and to secure good fruit on shallower soils, 
if conditions are kept just right by frequent 
use of water and fertilizers in just the right 
amounts, such conditions impose heavy bur- 
dens in their constant requirements of extra 
care and expenditure, and these are handi- 
caps of no small economic importance. The 
tree cannot live upon climate as a man may, 
because a tree cannot speculate ; it must 
have a good foundation in the earth as well 
as a good outlook in the sky. 

Growing orange trees on defective soils 
has brought disappointment and loss in all 
parts of California. Ample supplies of 
irrigation water available have encouraged 
over-irrigation where trees have been 
planted above hardpan, and drainage is 
absent. Dying-back and yellow leaf have 
appeared in some groves and have been 
accounted for by digging to find the roots 
bedded in mud and slush. All plantings over 
clay sub-soils should be guarded against 
this danger. Digging deep holes and filling 
them with good soil is setting a trap for the 
future failure of the tree unless the deep 
hole is properly drained by the nature of 
the sub-soil or by artificial provision. On 
the other hand, planting over a gravelly 
subsoil is often disappointing because the 
water passes through the subsoil as through 
a sieve and the tree shows distress although 
generous amounts are applied to the surface. 
Wide observation through the State teaches 
that such warnings are needed by the un- 
wary. There has also been injury to trees 
from planting over subsoils carrying excess 
of lime.* 

Local temperature conditions even in 
sections generally suited to orange culture 
should be carefully ascertained. Frosty 
places must be avoided. A few feet differ- 
ence in elevation may change profit to loss, 
but one must not therefore draw the hasty 
conclusion that all small elevations are favor- 
able. The experience of the last few years 
shows that nothing is on the whole more 
dangerous than the warm bottom land in 



* "Marly .'Subsoils and Chlorosis of Citrus Trees." by E W. 
Hilgard. Circular 27, University Experiment Station, Berkeley. 



a small elevated valley which seems naturally 
protected on all sides. There are many 
such places which are far more treacherous 
than the uplands of the broad valleys, which 
may be considerably lower. The benches 
around the sides of the small valley may be 
safe and the bottom of the same valley dan- 
gerous because there is no adequate outflow 
for cold air to the large valley below. Look 
out for small valleys which have divides of 
crumpled hills where they debouch into 
the main valley. Cold air can be dammed 
and held back ; consequently the low land of 
a small valley may be worse than lower 
land in the main valley, because in the 
latter there are air currents which prevent 
accumulation of cold air in particular places. 
These air movements make some plantings 
on the upper plains of the main valley safe 
though the whole region may seem to the 
eye rather flat and low, but, of course, 
broad sinks of the main valley may also 
be dangerous. Too great elevations are to 
be guarded against. Where one approaches 
the reach-down of mountain temperatures 
and loses the warming influences of the 
valley mesas, the danger line is at hand. 

An ample water supply is essential. Small 
waterings which may bring satisfactory 
growth to a young tree are no measure of 
the needs of a bearing tree. The orange is 
using water all the year, as discussed in the 
chapter on Irrigation. Its crop requires 
nearly a year to reach maturity. Both in 
leaf growth and fruit growth it nearly 
doubles the activity of the deciduous tree and 
all the time it is pumping water with its 
roots and pouring forth water into the air 
through its exposed surfaces. No invest- 
ment in orange planting can be profitable 
without assurance of adequate water supply. 

PROPAGATION OF THE ORANGE. 

The orange is grown from cuttings, layers, 
and seeds. Growth from the seed is thi: 
method almost exclusively followed, and 
by far the best, but the others will be men- 
tioned briefly. 

Growth from Cuttings. — This method 
of propagation is described in the chapter on 
Propagation. 

Growth from Layers. — The orange roots 
readily by layering, the drooping branches 



How to Grow Them 



305 



Growing from Seed 



being partly cut through, buried in the soil 
with the terminal shoot above the ground. 
Layers must be kept moist. Layering may 
be employed to obtain a few plants easily, 
but, otherwise, it cuts no figure in propa- 
gation. Layers and cuttings, of course, re- 



When seedlings for fruiting are grown, 
select seed from a choice variety in a situ- 
ation where other citrus species are not 
grown ; but the orange cannot be trusted to 
come true from seed, and, more than this, 
the seedling class for fruiting purposes has 




iaiidaiJ Lemon paok. 



produce the original variety without recourse 
to budding. 

Growth from Seed. — The orange is 
grown upon seedlings of the common or sweet 
orange ; the bitter orange or orange of Se- 
ville, generally called "Florida sour stock," 
and of the Pomelo or Grape Fruit. Good 
plump seed should be selected in growing 
orange seedlings either for their own fruitage 
or to use as stocks for budding. 



been practical 1\- abandoned as unprofitable 
to plant, though fruit from old seedling trees 
is occasionally sold at a profit. 

In securing seed the fruit is allowed to 
rot and when thoroughly decayed, it is 
pulped by mashing in a barrel, and the mass 
is washed, a little at a time, on a coarse sieve, 
the pulp passing through, and the seed 
being caught on the wires, and pieces of 
skin thrown out. The plump seed will sink 



Growing Seedlings 



306 



California Fruits ; 



it thrown into water, and the imperfect can 
be skimmed from the top. The seed should 
never be allowed to dry, and unless it is 
to be sown at once, should be stored by mix- 
ing with inoist sand, from which it can be af- 
terwards removed bv siftinsf; or it can be 



convenient to handle. The bottom should 
have holes, or sufficient crevices for good 
drainage. Fill the boxes about four inches 
with tlie prepared soil, place the seeds about 
an inch and a half apart each way, and sift 
over tliem about an inch of the soil, or a 




A packed box of Oranges. 



kept fur a time in water, changing the water 
from time to time to prevent souring. The 
best time for sowing orange seed is after 
the ground has become warm in the spring. 

Orange seedlings are grown either in boxes 
or in the open ground. In either case a rich 
sandy loam which will not bake should be 
secured or artificially made by mixing sand 
with rich garden loam. Boxes of about two 
square feet area and six inches deep are 



little less of the soil and a layer of clear 
sand if it is at hand. It is essential that 
the soil should be kept moist, and light 
sprinkling daily or every other day with water 
that has been warmed by standing in the 
sun, is desirable. Seed can be sown in 
boxes in the house at any time, if plenty of 
light and heat are given. If the boxes are 
to be out-of-doors, it is best to sow in the 
spring, and to rig up a cover of cheap cotton 



How to Grow Them 



307 



The Oraup-e Xurser\- 



cloth, suspended about a foot aljovc the 
surface, to prevent eiTect of frost at night, 
and of burning by sun heat by day. The 
seedlings usually appear in about six weeks, 
and with good care in weeding and keeping 
sufficiently, but not excessively, moist, they 
will make a growth of about a foot the 
first season. Some growers collect the boxes 
in a sheltered place, and build over them a 
lath house, tacking on old sacks or other 
cloth, to shield from sun and frost. The 
lath house keeps animals from running over 
the boxes, etc. 



seed Ix'cls ii In usual to sow the seed broad- 
c;i,st. 

Thi-; Or-xngk Nursery. — Planting out in 
nursery is usually done after the ground is 
thoroughly warmed in the spring, and the 
seedlings are then about a year old. The 
preparation of nursery ground and the plant- 
ing out of the seedlings can be done as de- 
scribed in Chapter VIII. Orange seedlings 
should, however, be given greater distance 
apart than is usual for deciduous trees, 
because the orange remains longer in nursery, 




Root systems of seedlings. 

I'lorida sour. b Pomelo. c .Sweet .seedlii 



Growing seedlings in an open bed involves 
about the same operations. To guard against 
intrusion, it is advisable to make board sides 
to the bed about a foot high, and 'to make lath 
frames which will reach across, resting on 
the edge boards. A cloth sun-and-frost 
shade is also 'desirable, to be laid over the 
lath frames when it seems needed. Beds 
should be made narrow enough so that one 
can easily reach half way across from each 
of the long sides for weeding, etc. In open 



and because it is often desirable, when taking 
up, to sack the ball of earth embracing 
the roots. If the roots are not to be sacked, 
about nine inches will do between the plants ; 
if to be sacked, the distance should be twice 
as great. The rows should not be too close 
in the orange nursery. If horse cultivation 
is to be used, at least four feet between the 
rows should be allowed, and even greater 
distance is desirable. In taking the seed- 
lings from the seed beds, a few should be 



Budding- the Orang;e 



308 



California Fruits : 



lifted at a time, and their roots kept shaded 
and moist until the ground closes on them in 
the nursery row. To get an even stand in the 
nursery, small and weak plants should be 
placed by themselves, or set in boxes to take 
another year before going into nursery. 

Young trees in nursery are very liable to 
frost injury, and it is wise to protect them 
by some sort of a cover during the winter. 
A framework covered with cypress brush is 
often used, the whole being cleared away in 
the spring, to allow of summer cultivation. 
Cultivation of trees in nursery is about the 
same as with deciduous fruit trees. The 
horse should be used, and the surface kept 



from the planting of the seed. At a con- 
venient time in the winter the lower shoots 
and thorns are removed from the seedlings, 
so as to leave a clear stem of about six inches 
for the convenience of the budder. 

BUDDING THE ORANGE. 

The orange root is the best foundation for 
an orange tree, and the seedling sweet orange 
has been the main reliance. The seedling 
of the Florida sour orange has been used 
to some extent to escape gum disease. It 
has not been entirely free though conceded 
to be less subject to the trouble. Oranges 



1 

1 




■x-'^MSi 


fli 


iS 


1 


s 


w^ 




pun 


BUI 


ij 



Bearing Pomelo budded to uraiigc : leaving side branch to keep up circulation. 



perfectly pulverized. The cultivator should 
follow irrigation as soon as the soil will ad- 
mit of it. Frequency of irrigation of nursery 
depends, of course, upon local conditions. 
Some give two or three irrigations, by run- 
ning the water in a little trench alongside 
the rows, at intervals of two weeks, for a 
time after planting, and then irrigate once a 
month during the suminer. It is important 
that irrigation should not be continued too 
late into the fall, because the young tree 
should harden its wood before cold weather. 
Nor is it desirable that the growth be too 
rapid. A good growth of sound wood is 
better than extra size. 

Length of Timf, in Nursery. — Seedlings 
are usually budded after being one or two 
years in the nursery, or at two to three years 



have also been worked upon pomelo seed- 
lings, which force a strong growth, root 
deeply and are satisfactory. Of course many 
lemon, and recently many pomelo trees, 
have been worked over to the orange, but in 
these cases the orange root was below the 
other wood. All lemon roots are not suit- 
able for the orange. The Japanese practice 
of dwarfing with the citrus trifoliata has 
never prevailed in this State. Recently the 
trifoliata stock has been used considerably 
to secure earlier ripening of fruit, and the 
tree claimed to be sufficiently free growing, 
but experience favors the 9ther roots for 
standard trees. 

Budding is almost exclusively adopted for 
working in desirable varieties. The best 
time to bud is about the time the new growth 
starts on the seedling in the spring, though 



How to Grow Them 



309 



Working- over Old Trees 



some practice budding in niidsiuiinier and 
fall. Good, well-matured buds only should be 
used ; those from both base and tip of the 
shoots are frequently defective. The method 
of budding described in Chapter IX is that 
usually employed in budding citrus trees, 
and the rules for loosening the ligature, etc.. 
are similar. Midsummer buds are apt to have 
soft growth at the coming of cold weather ; 
fall buds remain dormant until spring; 
spring buds start to grow almost immediately, 
and have the benefit of the whole summer 
season for growth and maturing of wood. 
After the bud has .started out well, the 



Sometimes a very rank growth on the bud 
will need a stake to strengthen it or to 
protect it from blowing out. The intrusion 
of gophers and other vermin should be reso- 
lutely and persistently guarded against. 

Working over Old Trees. — Old orange 
trees can be transformed into improved 
varieties either by budding or by grafting, 
as described at the close of Chapter IX, 
though re-working by grafting has been 
almost entirely superseded by budding. The 
common way to bud over an old tree is to 
cut back part of the branches and force out 




Orange top on lemon trees eighteen niunllis after budding. 



top of the stock should be removed at a 
short distance above the bud, and suckers on 
the old stock should be continually looked 
for and removed. The tender shoot of the 
bud may be protected by tying to the stub, 
and when the growth of the bud has become 
strong enough to support itself, the old 
stock is smoothly sawn away above the bud 
and the wound covered with liquid grafting 
wax, or paint. 

The care of budded trees in nursery is 
similar to that of the seedlings of the pre- 
vious year. If too great a tendency to 
branch low down is observed, the tips of the 
lower shoots should be pinched, but it is 
not dc-!"ible to underprune much; the reten- 
tion of the lower branches thickens the stem. 



new shoots, the best of which are selected for 
budding and the others removed. Sometimes 
only a part of the tree is removed at first, 
and when the new buds have grown out on 
that, the other part is similarly treated. 
Others remove the whole top except a single 
low branch to maintain sap circulation until 
after the new buds start. 

Recently the practice of budding into old 
Ijark has been widely adopted as the quick- 
est way to secure a new tree. As with 
working into old bark in other trees it is 
necessary to take an older bud and a larger, 
thicker shield of bark behind it, than when 
budding into younger stock. Some remove 
the wood from the back of the shield, but 
generally it is not done. The following is an 



Plantino- Oraiio-es in Orchard 



310 



California Fruits : 



outline of practice approved Ijv the Redlands 
Horticultural Club : 

Keep the buds carefully in a damp cloth. Shde 
the bud upward, above the cross-section. Bind 
around the bark, steering clear of the buds proper, 
a wrapping of waxed cloth, already prepared, three- 
fourths of an inch wide. When enough of this 
has been wrapped about the tree trunk or branch 
to keep the bark and the bud in place, rub the end of 
the muslin strip with the handle of the budding 
knife, down upon the muslin already wound about 
the bark. This will hold the waxed wrapping firm- 
ly in place. Fromi ten days to two weeks after the 
buds have been inserted, cut off the entire top of 
the tree, above the buds, and cover the stump of 
trunk or large branch with grafting wax— applied 
hot — with a brush. 

As soon as the wax is put on — and it must be 
put on as soon as the top is sawed off — whitewash 
the tree, over the waxed cloth, also over the bud, 
over every part of the tree that is left, except the 
stump ends, to which the hot wax has been applied. 
Immediately the buds will begin to grow. From 
ten days to two weeks after whitewashing take off 
the muslin wrap, and, if the work has been done care- 
fully, in accordance with the above directions, 90 
per cent of the buds will develop — perhaps more. 
A prime necessity for this work is a razor-sharp 
budding knife. 

There is a variation in practice in cutting- 
back the stock above the bud. Instead of 
cutting back at once, heroically, as just de- 
scribed, some girdle the branch or cut back 
part of the top at a distance above the bud, 
cutting down to the bud after it shows good 
strong growth, tying the young growth to 
the stub at first to protect it. Others in- 
sert the bud in the fall, cutting back to start 
the bud after the fruit on the old top is 
gathered. It is very important to watch for 
suckers below the bud and remove, or pinch 
them back, to make a bunch of leaves. The 
growth from the bud itself often needs pinch- 
ing to induce low branching. Twig-budding 
can also be used on the orange by the method 
already described for the olive. 

Budding in old trees is best done in the 
spring, when the sap flow is strong, but, as 
stated, can be done in the fall and the bud 
allowed to lie dormant until spring. 

PLANTING ORANGES IN ORCHARD. 

As already stated, orange trees are 
planted out at greater age than deciduous 
fruit trees. Budded trees are given one 
or two years' growth in nursery and one or 
two years growth on the bud, which, added 
to the year in seed bed, makes them three 
to four years of age from the sowing of the 



seed. Seedlings, to be planted out as such, 
are allowed two years' growth in the nursery, 
which makes them three years old from the 
seed. For this length of time and the un- 
usual care involved in their growth, taking 
up from nursery and preparation for car- 
riage, orange trees of planting age are of 
much greater cost than deciduous fruit trees. 

Since the growing of seedlings for their 
fruit has practically ceased, the distance 
between the trees in orchard planting has 
ranged from twenty to twenty-four feet. 
All the varieties now propagated are quick 
to bear fruit and if properly shaped will 
find ample space in these distances — the 
greater distance on the richer soil as a rule. 

Preparation of land for orange planting 
by deep and thorough cultivation and laying 
off to secure straight rows by the square, 
quincunx, and hexagonal methods have been 
quite fully discussed in Chapter X, and 
Chapter XI has suggestions for planting, 
many of whicli are applicable to the setting 
of orange trees. There are, however, special 
inethods employed in lifting the orange trees 
from the nursery rows and in placing them 
in permanent position, which will be out- 
lined. 

The orange, in common with other ever- 
green trees, is exceedingly sensitive to expos- 
ure of its roots, and for this reason the 
handling of the young trees is very different 
from that of ordinary orchard trees. Three 
ways are employed for securing this constant 
moisture of the roots, as follows : 

Packing in Wet Str.wv. — As fast as the 
trees are lifted from the nursery ground by 
digging carefully so as to loosen and secure 
all the roots possible, they are packed in 
damp and partially rotten straw, proper re- 
ceptacles being at hand so that the roots are 
not exposed by carrying them any distance. 
In taking up, all roots bruised by the spade 
are cleanly cut with a sharp knife. The tap- 
root is cut away at a depth of a foot or so 
from the surface. This use of wet straw, 
if faithfully carried out, will answer well 
in taking trees short distances for planting, 
but the use of a puddle on the roots before 
packing in damp straw gives additional as- 
surance of success. 

Puddling the Roots. — This method is 
also used for deciduous fruit trees, as men- 



How to Grow Them 



311 



Cutting Back at Transplantino- 



tioned in Chapter XI. It consists in having 
a thin puddHng of loamy soil with prepon- 
derance of sand rather than of clay, into 
which the roots are dipped as soon as the 
tree is lifted from the nursery. This mixture, 
which should be about as thick as cream, 
may be made in a hole in the ground, or. 
better still, in a box or cask large enough 
to allow complete plunging of the roots. 
As soon as dipped, and with all the mud 
which will adhere, the roots are packed in 
wet straw. If the trees are to remain thus 
jjacked for any length of time, the greatest 
care must be observed to keep the straw 
<lamp, and water must be applied gently to 
avoid washing the puddle from the roots. 

Sacking the Roots with a Ball of 
Earth. — This is a very satisfactory way to 
move orange trees, and if it is well done, 
the tree does not wilt, and may be moved long 
distances and handled more freely than the 
puddled roots. To ball and sack trees, dig 
a trench along one side of the row about six 
inches away from the trees, and about a 
foot and a half deep. By careful digging 
under each tree from this trench the tap- 
root is reached, and severed by a cut with a 
sharp spade. The side roots are also cut 
by thrusting the spade down on the three 
sides not opened by the trench. The top 
earth is carefully removed nearly down to 
the highest lateral roots, and after being 
sure that the roots are severed all around, 
the tree is lifted out with the ball of earth 
which encloses the remaining roots. This 
ball is rounded off carefully and then placed 
on a half of a grain sack or other piece of 
liurlap, the corners of which are drawn up 
and tied around the stem of the tree with 
baling rope. It is also an additional surety 
of safety to allow the baling rope to run 
under and around the ball to aid in holding 
it together. The balled trees must be care- 
fully handled so as not to break the ball, 
which would result in tearing to pieces, as 
well as exposing, the roots. 

The manner of handling the trees depends 
somewhat upon the character of the nursery 
soil. Successful balling of course requires 
a certain amount of adhesiveness in the 
soil. 

One can not be too careful in the handling 
(>i orange trees. Though they will stand 
harsh treatment when in permanent place, 



they must be most carefully transplanted. 
Lifting from the nursery when the soil is too 
dry, exposure of the roots, or careless 
planting, will consign the tree to a slow, 
sickly growth, and often kill it outright. 

Cutting Back at Transplanting. — The 
rule of reducing the top to compensate for 
the loss of roots, is vital in moving orange 
trees, but sometimes cutting back is carried 
too far and subsequent growth is checked 
rather than promoted. Some growers cut 
back the young trees a little while before 
lifting them from the nursery. Some take 
off all leaves after planting out, and claim 
that growth starts sooner and more strongly, 
but it is doubtful whether defoliation is ad- 
visable, except in case of wilting, when it 
is necessary. 

Digging Holes ■ and Setting Trees. — 
The same considerations which require e.xtra 
care in lifting trees for nursery, rule in 
]uitting them in permanent place. All au- 
thorities on the subject specify exceptional 
care in preparing the tree holes as a profit- 
able investment on the part of the planter. 
Large and deep holes are commended, 
provided the planting is being done in a 
deep, free soil. Deep holes would be more 
injurious than beneficial in a tight subsoil, 
unless drainage were furnished, but there 
are good orange trees now bearing in such 
place.s — good enough at least to be an orna- 
ment and acceptable fruit producers for 
family use. 

On large-scale planting in deeply pre 
pared soil, holes large enough to allow 
good spreading of the roots are sufficient. 
Handling the soil at planting has been fully 
described in Chapter XI, and the importance 
of bringing the soil into firm contact with 
the roots has been urged. The use of water 
in planting citrus fruit trees is especially 
desirable. Transplanting should he done 
just as the growth is starting in the late 
spring or early summer, and this is the 
opening of the dry season and rains can 
not be expected. Therefore when the roots 
are arranged and the top soil lightly tramped 
around them, water is run in the hole and 
the earth compacted around the roots by 
water settling. After the water has settled 
away, the hole is filled and the surface left 
loose to prevent evaporation. 



Pruning the Orange 



312 



California Fruits : 



These instructions apply to the planting 
out of trees which are taken up with long roots 
and puddled. In planting out balled trees, 
the sack is not removed, but after the tree 
is embedded in the earth, the tying rope 
is cut. The sack soon decays in the soil. 

Orange trees can be successfully trans- 
planted at different times of the year, but 
the best time, as just stated, is after the 
ground gets well warmed by the spring sun- 
shine. The date at which this condition 
arrives depends upon locality. Experience 
seems to indicate that the young orange 



PRUNING THE ORANGE. 
All the considerations urged in Chapter 
XII in favor of low-headed and strongly- 
branched trees apply to the orange, though 
the habit of the tree in growth and bearing 
requires different pruning policies. The 
orange tree is more disposed naturally to 
assume a good form than most other trees, 
and for this reason most experienced growers 
declare their belief in pruning as little as 
possible. This is unquestionably good policy 
providing attention enough is given to secur- 




'-r^U — 

Fg. 1 , Orange tree at planting in orchard, 
3 feet high. 




Result of neglect in forming head. 




Better form secured by training. 



tree is in best condition to transplant just 
as the new growth is starting out, and pref- 
erably when it has not grown out more than 
two inches. 

Great care must be taken that transplanted 
orange trees do not become dry after planting. 
The methods of irrigation are described in 
Chapter XV. Good cultivation should also 
attend the orange from its first planting 
onward. This subject is fully discussed in 
Chapter XIII. 



ing a shapely and convenient tree, and to over- 
come the tendency in the young tree to run 
out very long shoots which result in unsym- 
metrical shoulders with hollows beneath tliem 
and obviate a weeping habit, which inter- 
feres with irrigation and cultivation and pre- 
vents the development of good bearing space 
above. It is so easy to bring the orange tree 
into good form by a little hard thinking about 
what shape is desirable and a little timely 
cutting and pinching to secure it. 



How to Grow Them 



313 



Necessary to Prune 



It has long been held that the orange tree 
should assume a compact wall of foliage. 
The interior of the tree being considered 
merely the framework to support this and 
pump sap into it. Recently the importance 
of removing dead wood from the center of 
the tree is being urged, even though the 
cost is considerable, and a rational thinning 
of branches to admit light and air in suffi- 
cient amount to secure good fruit nearer the 
center of the tree is also being advocated 
and practiced to some extent. All these 




Fig. 2. Branch form of orange before 
removing lower branches. 



progressive tendencies carry the orange 
nearer to the application of the principles of 
pruning which are discussed in detail in 
Chapter XII, including the rational recourse 
to more severe pruning or cutting back to 
induce a growth of new and stronger wood 
for subsequent bearing. In other cases 
cutting back of varieties inclined to make a 
rank wood growth, like the Valencia Late, 
to encourage a better supply of fruiting 
wood, is being advocated. It seems clear 
that there are important ends to be gained 
by more pruning of the orange tree, and 
by earnest thinking and close observation 
along this line. 



It has been held that it was necessary to 
prune the young tree to quite a high head 
at first to allow for the natural droop of the 
branches, and the result is seen in many 




Fig. 3. Good form of five-year-old orange tree. 

young trees with slim stems and umbrella- 
like tops. It is better to develop a stout 
stem by allowing for a time a low growth 




Fig. 4. Branch form of orange six months' 
after planting. 

upon it and then raise it later by removal 
of the lower growth which has done good 
service and outlived its usefulness. By wise 
underpruning it is possible not only to se- 
cure a shapely and convenient tree but 



The Drooping- Habit 



314 



California Frnits 



also to so train the lower growth that it 
shall present good, low bearing wood with- 
out groveling in the dust. 

Unquestionably the drooping habit of 
budded orange trees is largely due to their 



to prevent long branches from running out 
at random, and removing branches which 
may start strongly from near the base, the 




Fig. 5. Tendency of clipped branches to rise. 

treatment. A grower who does not believe 
in pruning allows the branches to extend too 
far horizontally, and the weight of the foliage 
and the early fruiting brings the branches 
to the ground. To relieve the lower branches 
of the young tree of a part of this weight 
will enable them to assume a better direction, 
and this slight relief at first will prevent 
much branch-sawing in later years. The 
young tree as it comes from the nursery 
usually starts upon an upright course. If 
stopped at about three feet it can be brought 
along to develop strong and well-arranged 
branches, much as has been described for 
deciduous fruit trees in Chapter XII. The 
adjacent engraving. Fig. i, shows a young 
tree in planting condition, stopped at three 
feet and needing only a slight cutting back 
of the laterals to be ready to begin its or- 
chard life. If young trees are transplanted 
short distances and at the right time they 
do not need so much cutting back as is 
commonly given them. If allowed to grow 
from the start shown in Fig. i, pruning only 




Fig. 6. Branch form of five-year old 
tree built down. 

tree will assume the branch-form shown in 
Fig. 2 and at from two to three years after 
planting in the orchard. At about this age 
the removal of lower branches begins, as they 




Fig. 7. Foliage form of five-year old tree. 

have served their purpose in shading the 
trunk and bearing the first fruit. These 
branches are removed one by one until, 
when the tree is five years in the orchard, it 
has lost all branches below the two-foot line 
except the one branch marked "a" of which 
the upright-growing part will be retained. 
The higher branches assume the more hori- 
zontal habit, too great out-shooting is re- 



How to Gro\\- Them 



315 



Later Pruning of the Orange 



pressed and at about five years orchard-age 
the tree attains a lieight of about twelve feet 
and is of the general form shown in Fig. 3. 
The next few months will bring its foliage 
to the ground to remain there or to be 
under-trimmed, as the notion of the grower 
may be. 

BUILDING DOWN AND NOT SAGGTN(i 
DOWN. 

It is perfectly feasible and rational to se- 
cure a good form of low tree without re- 
moval of large branches and without rely- 
ing upon the sag of the branches from a 
high head. It requires rather more watch- 
fulness and attention and study of the sub- 
ject than some growers desire to give, but 
the results when attained are very satisfac- 
tory. The method is that of J. H. Reed, of 
Riverside, and has been followed by him 
for a number of years with his own orchard 
and others of which he has had charge. It 
will be found readily intelligible with the 
help of the sketches. Mr. Reed would begin 
with a young nursery tree like that already 
shown in Fig. i. He does not believe in 
much cutting back before planting providing 
a fair amount of roots are left in the ball at 
transplanting. If the tree has been properly 
planted and cared for, it will soon begin to 
put out new growth, usually first along the 
stem, the strongest growth being lowest 
down. As many of these young branches 
along the stem as are not desired for perma- 
nent branches, are rubbed off, the earlier 
the better, at least before woody fiber is 
deposited in them. Mr. Reed rubs oft' 
promptly all below a point about two feet 
from the ground, if there is a prospect of 
getting sufiicient good branches above that 
point. If not he sayes them down to eight 
or even twelve inches lower if need be. 

Mr. Reed's idea is to build the head along 
a considerable length of the trunk and not 
have the branches bunched at the top, and 
this is the same idea that is urged in tb.e 
development of the trunk of the deciduous 
fruit tree in Chapter XII. He finds it 
impossible to do this in the nursery because 
if it is attempted to form a head 18 or 24 
inches along the upper portion of the stem 
instead of one bunched near the top of it, 
the lower branches will appropriate most 
of the sap and the upper portion will not be 



well developed ; while if this upper story is 
well established in the nursery the lower por- 
tion can be built on wdthout detriment to the 
upper, if nutriment sufficient for both is fur- 
nished. Fig. 4 will show approximately the 
branch-form of the young tree at about six 
months from planting and the shoots with 
which the building-down is begim. The first 
step is to check the drooping habit. Upon 
this point Mr. Reed says : 

The common notion that the branch of the Navel 
orange naturally tends down is a mistake which 
grows out of the fact that in its rapid growth the 
new part of the stems and large leaves are so load- 
ed with sap that they pull the stems from their 
natural upright position, and, unless relieved, hold 
them there till the deposit of woody fiber fixes 
the branches in the drooping or unnatural posi- 
tion. If the tips of these rapidly growing branches, 
with their heavy leaves, be clipped at the right time, 
the branches will spring back to the erect position, 
w'here they will remain to send out new branchlets. 
It is wonderful how the orange tree can be molded 
like a thing of wax by pinching and clipping here 
and there, if done at the right time. 

Fig. 5 shows the result of this clipping 01 
heavy shoots to allow them to assume a 
more upright growth and the encourage- 
ment of new shoots below the two-foot 
mark. Fig. 6 gives the branch-form of a 
five-year-old tree, with its lower story of 
bearing wood well developed, and Fig. 7 is 
the foliage-form of the same tree, about 
fifteen feet high, with its leaves and fruit 
reaching to the ground. As to how low 
the branches should be allowed, Mr. Reed 
says that until recently he has thought it 
best to keep the low'er branches clipped back 
so that the fruit would not touch the ground, 
but he is persuaded that it is better to let 
them come to the ground even if considerable 
fruit rests on it. He finds that many of the 
best orchardists do this, and claim that there 
are really less culls among the fruit on the 
ground than on the less-protected branches 
above. 

L.\TER Pruning of the Orange. — After 
the form of the orange is well established 
the aim should be to preserve a compact, 
symmetrical and convenient form. It is de- 
sirable that weak wood should be removed: 
dead interior branches, which have given up 
the struggle for the light, should also be re- 
moved. It is an appalling undertaking to 
get into the inside of an old orange tree 
and saw off and drag out the dead wood 



Washino-ton Navel Orang-e 



316 



California Fruits : 



but, as already stated, the conviction is 
growing that this should be done. Of the 
growing shoots there is a reasonable amount 
of thinning to be done. The clipping back 
of ambitious shoots multiplies laterals. There 
should be a good cover of leaves, but the 
crowding of leaves on leaves excludes light 
and air and weakens the tree by lessening 
the vigor of leaf action. Dead twigs which 
appear among good bearing shoots should 
always be removed. The gourmand shoots 
or suckers should be repressed, unless, by 
clipping, one can be turned into a branch 
where a branch is needed. 

DISEASES OF THE ORANGE. 

The orange is thus far subject to few dis- 
eases in California. The most grievous is 
the so-called gum disease, which is analo- 
gous to the gumming of other trees and 
will be discussed in the chapter treating of 
tree diseases. Cracking of the fruit is a 
trouble which has never been fully explained. 

There are several serious insect enemies 
of the orange, which will be discussed in the 
chapter on that subject. The "black smut," 
which makes leaves and fruit unsightly in 
some parts of the state, is a fungoid growth 
upon the exudations of insects, and can be 
prevented by removing its cause. 

VARIETIES OF THE ORANGE. 

Though many varieties of the orange have 
been introduced in California, but few are 
largely grown. During the last fifteen years 
there has been a pervading disposition to 
concentrate upon the Washington Navel, 
and, except to get other varieties either earlier 
or later to extend the season, there seems 
little reason to go beyond the Navel for 
commercial purposes. Not only have recent 
plantings been predominantly of this variety, 
but old trees of other kinds have beeen very 
largely budded over to it, and this work is 
still going on at a rapid rate. 

As already claimed in the opening pages 
of this chapter, the Washington Navel is the 
greatest commercial orange in the world. 
As it goes from California into the world's 
commerce it is a combined product of grow- 
er's skill and climatic conditions operating upon 
its own natural qualities and characters. 
Neither of these factors alone could achieve 



its present position. The navel mark is 
neither peculiar to it nor determinative of it, 
for there are other navels which are inferior 
here and our navel is inferior elsewhere ; and 
even in Bahia, whence it came, it has no 
such quality and standing, because in coming 
to California it passed from humid, tropical 
to arid, semi-tropical environment. As 
already suggested, the tropical orange is not 
in the same class with the semi-tropical 
from the point of view of commerce. Trade 
in tropical oranges is local or limited ; trade 
in semi-tropical oranges is world-reaching 
The orange produced in an arid, semi-trop- 
ical climate is dense and compact, firm and 
better in keeping and carrying characters. 
It is also of more sprightly flavor and richer 
composition. Those who are disposed to 
exalt the humid air orange for superior 
sweetness forget that the California orange, 
as compared, for instance, with the Florida 
product, has not less sugar but adds to it 
more acid ; being, in fact, not less sweet 
but more sour. As both sugar and acid are 
nutritive substances, the superiority of the 
California fruit from a dietary point of view 
is clear. Such an orange, enclosed in a thin 
skin of silky texture and beautiful finish, 
comes very close to an ideal upon which to 
found an industry. 

Although California has apparently no 
need for changes of type in oranges and has 
worked diligently and long for the attainment 
of the types which are at present supreme 
in her industry, there is still opportunity for 
improvement within the types. Such im- 
provement is probably to be attained not 
by hybridizing, but by selection. The Wash- 
ington Navel, like other members of the 
citrus family is keenly disposed to variation 
and some of its variations have been named 
^nd propagated as the lists below will show. 
The pursuit of such and other improve- 
ments is now being systematically taken 
up at the Citrus Experiment Station at 
Riverside which is a branch of the Univer- 
sity of California Experiment Station at 
Berkeley. 

Of the few varieties which are now largely 
grown the following is the ripening season : 

Navel and Seedlings, November to May: 
Malta Blood, March to June; Mediterranean 
Sweets. April to July; St. Michaels, May to 
July ; \^alencia Late. June to September. 



How to Grow Them 



m: 



Oranee Varieties 



U'asltiitgtoit Navel (Bahia. Riverside Xavcl). 
— Fruit large, solid, and heavy ; skin smooth and of 
a very fine texture; very juicy; high flavored, with 
melting pulp; is practically seedless, only in ex- 
ceptional cases are seed found; tree is a good and 
prolific bearer, medium thorny, a rapid grower, 
although it does not attain a very large size ; bears 
when very young, commencing to bear as early 
as one year old from the bud ; ripens early. This 
variety was imported from Bahia, Brazil, in 1870, 
by Ml. W. Sanders, of the Department of Agri- 



Australian Navel. — A coarser type of the Navel in- 
troduced from Australia in 1874 by Lewis Wolfskill, 
of Los Angeles, and largely propagated formerly. 
It ha? now been practically abandoned for the Wash- 
ington Navel. It seems to be of more account at 
some points in the San Joaquin Valley than else- 
where. 

Valencia Late (Hart's Tardiff). — 'Medium size, 
oblong, pale yellow ; flesh rich, deep yellow, sprigl'.t- 
ly and crisp ; tree a strong grower, slightly thorny. 
Ripens late, and valuable for late shipping. 



i* \ 



-.«. 



.*1.-^ 



^••-» :♦: 



;^ 



I^A^^H^^ 



Washington Navel Orange. 



culture at Washington, and in 1874 two trees were 
received from Washington by Mrs. Tibbetts, of 
Riverside, Cal. Trees were also received about 
the same time by Alexander Craw, but the River- 
side trees were first in fruit, and the excellence 
or the variety being at once recognized, it was 
propagated rapidly and took the name Riverside 
Navel from the place where its characteristics were 
first made known. As it came to be grown largely 
in other districts as well, a broader name, Wash- 
ington Navel, recognizing its receipt from the na- 
tional capital, was adopted. 

There is much tendency to variation in the Wash- 
ington Navel, and sub-varieties are to be found in- 
volving departures in the direction of thinness and 
silkiness of rind, etc., as well as interior characters. 
The first to become prominent of these is Thomson's 
Improved Navel which A. C. Thomson, of Duarte, 
Los Angeles County, claimed to have produced by 
a process of propagation, but which is believed to 
be a natural variation. It is a very refined fruit; 
generally held to be too fine for ordinary handling- 
Two new variations, developed on the propagating 
grounds of the San Dimas Citrus nurseries of R- M. 
Teague are as follows : 

Golden Buckeye Navel. — Young wood, slender 
but strong; tree of striking appearance; fruit mark- 
ed with bands of deeper color, skin very smooth ; 
pulp aromatic with suggestion of pineapple flavor. 

Golden Nugget Navel. — Young wood willowy and 
slender, tree umbrageous; fniit smooth, solid, thin- 
skirmed, rather oblong and good size, rich golden 
color; pulp free from rag. and delicious. 



Malta Blood. — Fruit small to medium, oval; flesh 
fine texture and flavor, streaked and mottled with 
red; few seeds. The tree is' thornless and regular 
and heavy bearer. 

Ruby. — Medium size, roundish ; when ripe often 
reddened by deep red pulp within; juicy and spright- 
ly, often rather acid ; tree vigorous, thornless and a 
good bearer. 




Thomson's Improved Navel. 



Varieties 



318 



California Fruits 



Mediterranean Szneet — Fruit mediiun to large, 
pulp and skin of fine texture, very solid and few- 
seeds ; ripens late, often not until May or June- 
The tree is thornless and of dwarf habit of growth 
and is inclined to overbear. It was at one time the 
most widely-distributed variety in the State, next to 
the Washington Navel, but has recently been largely 
budded over. It was introduced and named by T. 
A. Garey. of Los Angeles. 



Dancy's Tangerine, or Kid Glove. — Leaves broad, 
fruit flat, small to medium, reddish; skin separating 
readily from the pulp; flesh juicy and aromatic. 

Satsunia (Unshiu Oonshiu.) — A considerable 
acreage of this variety, planted ten years ago on 
dwarfing stock, has availed very little commercially. 
At present tlierc is disposition to grow the variety 




The King Mandarin Orange. 



Paper Rind St. Michael. — Fruit small, round, very 
firm and very juicy; pale, thin skin; very elegant in 
appearance. It ripens late and keeps well on the 
trees as late as August; tree is of dwarf habit, me- 
dium thorny, a good bearer, and very desirable. 

Kuniquat (.Citrus Japonica). — Fruit very small, 
oblong or olive shaped, rind thick, yellow, smooth ; 
sweet-scented ; very little pulp ; containing many 
seeds; tree dwarf (a bush), a prolific bearer. Chief- 
Iv used for conserves. 



on sweet orange stock because of its earliness. Tree 
quite hardy, fruit irregular in size, but usually me- 
dium size, flattened; rind easily detached; fine tex- 
ture, sweet and nearly seedless. 

Mandarin^ Willoiit-Leaved. — Medium sized, flat- 
tened, deep yellow ; flesh dark orange, skin loose ; 
tree compact, ornamental- 

King. — Of the Mandarin class; large, rough 
skinned, skin and segments loose, pulp high flavored, 
sweet, aromatic. 



How to Grow Them 



319 



The Pomelo 



T 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE POMELO OR GRAPE FRUIT IN CALIFORNIA. 

HIS citrus fruit achieved a very sudden was cut off by the serious frost injuries in 
interest in Cahfornia because of the prices Florida there arose a passion for planting 





t 








4 


"9 










r^ 


:^ 






m 


^ 


kA^ 












SV 


V 


1 











Bearing Habit of the Pomelo in California. 

commanded by Florida pomeloes about fifteen the trees in Cahfornia, and a considerable 
years ago. When this supply of eastern cities acreasjc was planted, and as the tree is 



The Grape Fruit 



320 



California Fruits 



very rapid grower and precocious in fruit- 
bearing, large shipments were made in 1898, 
but the resuhs were not satisfactory, and 
since that time, although pomeloes sometimes 
sell to good advantage, the demand is on the 
whole light and irregular. The local con- 
sumption of pomeloes in California is increas- 
ing but does not warrant much acreage. 
For these reasons early plantings have been 
largely grafted over to the orange. 

The fruit is a Shaddock (Citrus dccmnana). 
Varieties have been secured of smaller size 
and of blander flavor than the coarse, sour 
and acrid fruit which is suggested by its 
name. An effort has been made to secure 
the favorite varieties, and a large list has 
been planted in this State, but the fruit does 
not command the place at the East which was 
awarded to the Florida product. As a tree 
the pomelo most nearly resembles the orange 
and its culture is the same. As for varieties, 
California experience has been too brief 
and fitful to demonstrate particular value or 
adaptation in them. Among growers there 
is no wide agreement as to superiority from 
a commercial point of view. Amateurs can 
find many desirable sorts in our citrus nur- 
series. 

Mr. A. P. Griffith of Azusa is perhaps the 
most enthusiatic and confident of California 
growers that the pomelo grown in this 
State will attain wide popularity in the 
United States. His grove is now seven 
acres in extent, nearly all of the Nectar 
variety which is of the type which he 
believes should be grown to win public 



favor. He concludes that the market wants 
a fruit not smaller than 8o's and prefers 
to stop at 64's. A fruit flat-round that 
will cut up into two halves each of which 
will stand upright on a plate, cut side up, 
seems especially desirable. A fruit that 
is spherical or pear-shaped is not desired. 
There are several varieties whose similarity 
in type would seem to warrant including 
all under one name. These, with the ad- 
dition of the seedless, comprise all there 
is of intrinsic value among California 
pomelos. If all other varieties not of 
this type were budded over, and thus taken 
out of the market, Mr. Griffith believes 
the demand would increase. Of the follow- 
ing varieties, the first is propagated by Mr. 
Griffith and the others by Mr. R. M. 
Teague of the San Dimas Citrus Nurseries. 

Nectar. — A Florida seedling, grown at Duarte; 
flat-round, heavy; peel smooth and bright, pale-lemon 
color ; oil cells small and numerous ; flesh dens», 
firm texture, abundant juice, vinous, excellent, bit- 
teT-s.w€et element distinct ; few seed's and little 
rag ; sizes frojn 42 to 80 to the box. 

Imperial. — Medium to large, peel very smooth, 
inedium thin and of fine texture; little rag, juice 
abundant, fine aromatic flavor, good keeper and 
shipper. Tree upright and heavy bearer. 

Marsh Seedless. — Medium size, S2 to 64 to the 
box; thin rind; almost entirely seedless: flesh dark 
and rich, a late keeper and early and abundant 
bearer. 

Triumph. — Medium size peel smooth, clear, thin 
and fine grained; very juicy, heavy and good 
flavored; juice free from bitterness; very littl'j rag; 
an early and prolific bearer. 





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How to Grow Them 



321 



The Lemon 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE LEMON AND MINOR CITRUS FRUITS. 



LEMON growing is a very unique and 
distinctive branch of California horti- 
culture, which in the present advancement 
of culture and preparation for the market, 
well illustrates the originality and invention 
which the California fruit grower has dis- 
played in his undertakings. Lemon growing 
in California is old because it arose at 
the old missions in the second century back 
of us, but successful lemon growing as a 
great industry is new and constantly assuming 
new phases. For the old seedling lemons 
were bad, and though enterprising growers 
soon learned that fact and set about getting 
better ones, it took years to secure them 
and to learn how to grow and handle them 
so that the Californian could displace the 
Sicilian fruit in the markets of the United 
States. Nor was time the only thing sacri- 
ficed — hundreds of thousands of dollars were 
lost before the California grower could put 
upon the market a good lemon, fit to stay 
good for a sufficient length of time. Un- 
» profitable plantings ; expensive curing houses, 
which did not cure well; countless experi- 
ments which yielded only loss and disap- 
pointment — all these are wrecks upon the 
rock of American lemon growing. 

Naturally Californians sought first to know 
how lemons were grown and handled abroad. 
At cost of great eiifort and outlay they 
learned practically nothing that they could 
do and a great deal that it was not neces- 
sary to do. Then they assumed a more 
rational mood — a disposition to discern what 
principles are involved in the problem, and 
to apply them in their own way according to 
conditions locally prevailing. Along this line 
grand success has been attained by a few 
masterful men conducting large lemon enter- 
prises or smaller undertakings of their own, 
while the mass of lemon planters, for one 
reason or another, have never reaped the 
reward they expected. On the whole, it may 
be said that lemon gfrowing- is a much harder 



and more exacting enterprise than orange 
growing, and for this reason many have 
new-topped their trees to oranges and thus 
escaped difficulties which they could not 
overcome. 

With the aid of the protective tariff the 
most resolute and capable have attained 
success, and now the California lemon is 
highly esteemed upon its merits everywhere. 
The tariff has somewhat reduced the effect 
of cheap labor in Italy and cheap water trans- 
portation from the Mediterranean region, 
and our lemons can sometimes compete with 
the foreign product not only in the west but 
even in the cities of the Atlantic seaboard. 
All this has been accomplished within two de- 
cades and it is a notable result. One measure 
of this fact may be found in the shipment 
of over three thousand five hundred car- 
loads during the season of 1906-7. The 
California lemon has however not yet attained 
mastery of American markets as the orange 
has, for there is a value of about four mil- 
lions of dollars in imported lemons while 
imported oranges are only worth one-fourth 
as much. It is manifest that the lemon 
should be encouraged with increased pro- 
tection to enable producers to push the issue 
of an American lemon for Americans to a 
successful termination. 

The best pack of California lemons has a 
uniformity of size, a finish of skin, a juici- 
ness and keen acidity which is unrivaled in 
the world. Numerous careful tests have been 
made of the California lemon in Atlantic 
cities in comparison with the best south 
European product, and the superiority of the 
American fruit has thus been demonstrated. 

SITUATIONS AND SOILS FOR THE 
LEMON. 

The lemon does best in a practically 
frostless situation. Such places arc found 
in largest area in the southern half of the 



Propagating and Planting 



322 



California Fruits 



coast regions of California, but also exist 
at favoring elevations in the interior. The 
moderating influence of proximity to salt 
water, and the effect of local topography 
and environment, which give frost-free nooks 
or belts, are elements favoring the lemon 
grower. In such situations the lemon blooms 
and fruits continuously throughout the year. 
While the lemon requires a less extrenn 
of low temperature than the orange, it also 
thrives with a less extreme of high tem- 
perature and less duration of it. It appar- 
ently does not require as much heat to de- 
velop acid, which is the charm of the lemon, 



overcome by the proper storage and treatment 
of the fruit for sale, at a considerable interval 
after picking, as will be mentioned presently. 
But both the curing and storage of lemons 
are more easily secured in the more equable 
temperature and moister air of the coast 
region. 

The lemon delights in a sandy loam, and 
probably our best orchards are on such soil, 
but the trees thrive in other soils. There is 
a difference of opinion among growers as 
to what soil is to be especially sought for. 
There are profitable lemon orchards in 
southern California located upon deep clay 




Lemon tree with fruit near ground but capable of under-cultivation. 



as it does sugar, which is essential to an 
acceptable orange ; therefore, a coast situa- 
tion which may not yield a sweet orange 
may produce a good lemon, although it is 
a fact that in the southern coast region, 
vi'here the largest commercial production of 
lemons is now achieved, the orange also 
does well. Another advantage of the lower 
summer temperature is that the continuous 
ripening is not interfered with, as it is b}' 
high summer heat, which hastens maturity 
and brings the mass of the fruit to mar- 
ketable condition in the winter — a season 
when the demand for the lemon is very small. 
This objection is, however, being measurably 



loams, and even upon strong red clay soils. 
As with some other fruits, the choice of soil 
is, to a certain extent, governed by the stock 
on which the lemon is worked. 

PROPAGATING AND PLANTING. 

The prevailing stock for the lemon is the 
orange seedling either the sweet or sour 
stock, vmder the same conditions that each 
is preferred for the orange, the sour stock 
resisting measurably the effects of ill-drainage 
of heavy land or flat, low places. The 
orange root thrives on a greater variety of 
soils than the lemon, and produces a healthy 



How to Grow Them 



323 



PruniiiP; the Lemon 



lemon tree where the lemon on its own root 
would fail. The growth of orange seed- 
lings for budding has been described in 
the last chapter. If lemon seedlings are 
desired they may be grown in the same 
way. Plants either for permanent growth 
or for stocks for budding can be grown 
from cuttings, as explained in Chapter 
VIII. The budding of the lemon is practi- 
cally the same as of the orange, which has 
been described. An old tree can be changed 



orange, after it is well shaped, simply needs 
attention to encourage it to retain the bearing 
form to which it seems naturally disposed. 
The orange provides itself with satisfactory 
bearing wood," as a rule ; the lemon devotes 
itself, even when it is old enough to know 
better, to a rangy rambling wood growth 
with bearing wood upon the ends of willowy 
rods where it is swept about in the wind 
and burned in the sun, instead of nestling it 
neatly among the leaves as the orange does. 




Lemon tree under p.ruiK 



bring fruit a distance from the soil. 



from one variety to another by the methods 
described for the orange, and oranges can be 
worked into old lemon trees and good fruit 
secured if the lemon itself be growing upon 
an orange root, which is likely to be the 
case with trees planted during the last decade. 
Planting of the lemon is the same as that 
of the orange. The distance in planting 
varies from twenty to twenty-five feet. Irri- 
gation of lemon and orange trees is also 
similar. 

PRUNING THE LEMON. 

The pruning of the lemon is essentially 
different from that of the orange, because 
the habit of the tree is different. The lemon 
requires constant attention to bring it into 
g-ood bearincj form and keep it there ; tjic 



The rational proceeding with the lemon is, 
then, to develop it at first into a low, stocky 
and strong form, such as is described in 
Chapter XII for deciduous trees. This may 
be secured by pinching so as not to allow 
running out of long branches at first, or 
it may be secured by severe cutting back of 
the long growths of the young tree. In 
either case low branching will be secured. 
Make good selection from these branches to 
form a symmetrical tree and cut back the 
growth which comes upon them to cause 
it to branch in its turn. In this way plenty 
of good, strong wood is secured low down, 
and" with short distances between the laterals. 
Strong, upright shoots (wrongly called 
"suckers") which break out at points where 
liranches are not desired, should be rubbed 



Old Lemon Trees 



324 



California Fruits : 



off or cleanly cut away. Having secured 
about the right branching in about the right 
places no strong sprouts should be allowed, 
and the tree should be encouraged to make 
smaller laterals, which will be the bearing 
wood. It must be admitted, however, that 
this rational plan of restricting wood growth 
and directing the energies of the tree to 
fruit has in some cases been pursued too 
far and the tree has resented repression by 
diminished thrift. The pruner must allow 
freer growth of shoot to secure better foliage. 



according to its position and vigor — all 
these must be borne in mind by the lemon 
pruner. . It must also be remembered that 
the work must be resolutely continued and 
the tree always prevented from wild growth 
and kept down to bearing on the smaller 
twigs, which are promoted and retained 
for that purpose. The building-down process 
described for the young orange is easily 
applicable to the lemon. 

Old lemon trees which have been allowed 
to grow away into a long, rangy form and 




Lemon tree with medium amount of under-pruning. 



The pruning of the lemon as of other trees 
must always be pursued with judgment 
rather that by recipe. 

When the adequate growth of bearing 
wood within reach is borne in mind it 
appears that the pruning of the lemon in- 
volves many of the considerations urged in 
Chapter XII for deciduous fruits; the method 
of making a strong, short trunk, the ar- 
rangement of branches, the prevention of 
long growths, the encouragment of low, 
bearing twigs, the thinning of twigs to 
prevent the tree from becoming too dense, 
the points to be observed in cutting back, 
not by shearing but by treating each branch 



to bear fruit too high for profit, can be 
brought down to good form by severe 
cutting back and after-treatment of the new 
shoots, keeping the smaller horizontal growths 
and cutting out cleanly the strong upright 
shoots, or cutting them back if more branches 
are needed. The time for pruning the lemon 
depends upon the end in view ; if a young 
tree, to promote wood growth, prune at 
the opening of the growing season in the 
spring; in older trees, to repress growth 
and advance fruiting, prune in midsummer. 

When it is remembered that harvesting 
lemons is a continuous operation as will 
be stated presently, keeping the bearing wood 




Lemon orchard under clean culture. 




Winter view of lemon orchard with cover crop of vetches. 



How to Grow Them 



325 



Lemons for Marketing 



of the tree within easy reach is more im- 
perative from an economic point of view than 
with trees from which fewer pickings gathei 
the crop. Adjacent engravings give sug- 
gestive views of rationally controlled lemon 
trees. Pruning is also related to escaping 
infection of the fruit from the ground which 
will be discussed in the Chapter on Diseases 
of Trees and Vines. 



PREPARATION OF LEMONS FOR 
MARKETING. 

The lemon as taken from the tree is not 
in condition for marketing except to packers 
who wish to undertake the curing. To 
secure best results in quality and in keeping 
properties, the lemon should be carefully cut 
from the tree as soon as proper size is 
reached. To allow the fruit to hang upon 
the tree until lemon color is assumed, gives 
a lemon which is deficient in juice, oversized, 
apt to develop bitterness, and prone to 
decay. Two and five-sixteenth rings are 
used for winter pickings and 2 1-2 for spring 
and summer, never more than six weeks 
being allowed to elapse between pickings, 
and the fruit is usually picked once a month. 
By careful attention to this, desirable sizes 
and good-keeping stock are obtained. Neg- 
lect of this is the weak point of many of the 
lemon growers of California. Mr. C. C. 
Teague, manager of the Limoneira Com- 
pany of Santa Paula, Ventura County, the 
largest lemon growing concern in California, 
has made close examination of practice 
among lemon growers, and concludes that 
the carelessness with which picking is done 
is almost criminal. In grove after grove 
which he visited at least 50 per cent, of the 
values had been lost by allowing the fruit 
to hang on the tree too long. Not only on 
account of large sizes would it have to be 
discounted 50 cents per box, but the keeping 
quality of the lemon which is allowed to 
mature on the tree is never good. Good re- 
sults can not be obtained, even by the best 
methods of keeping lemons, unless the fruit 
is picked at the proper time and properly 
handled. Mr. Teague says a lemon should 
be handled as carefully as an egg. 

If gathered before the color begins to turn 
properly cured lemons may be kept for 
months, and they will improve in market 



qualities, by a thinning and toughening of 
the skin, and by increase of juice contents. 
This curing of the fruit, as it is called, is 
accomplished in many simple ways. If the 
fruit is gathered and placed in piles under the 
trees, where, with low-headed trees, it is 
completely shaded by the foliage, it processes 
well and comes out beautiful in color and 
excellent in quality, providing it is a good 
variety. Some have trusted wholly to this 
open-air curing under the trees, merely pro- 
tecting the fruit by a thin covering of straw,, 
or other light, dry materials. Others let 
the fruit lie a few days under the trees, 
carefully shaded from the sun, and place it 
in boxes or upon trays, and keep it months 
in a darkened fruit-house, providing venti- 
lation but guarding the fruit against draughts 
of air. Gathering the fruit while still green 
and packing with alternate layers of dry 
sand, has given excellent marketable fruit, 
but of course the handling of so much sand 
is too expensive nor is it at all necessary. 

Much attention has been given to lemon 
storage in southern California, and many 
curing and storage houses have been con- 
structed. Naturally there is great variation 
in design and method of operation. The 
essential conditions to be secured are exclu 
sion of light ; regulation of temperature , 
ample ventilation, under control, however, 
so as to prevent entrance of air which is too 
dry or too hot ; convenience and cheapness 
of handling, for the lemon is expensive in 
handling at best during the months of storage 
which is often desirable. Some of these 
conditions are relatively of much more im- 
portance in the interior than in the coast 
region, because heat and dry air reach oc- 
casionally extremes which are not experienced 
near the ocean which is a great regulator of 
temperature and atmospheric moisture. For 
these reasons a much simpler system of stor- 
age is now in large use in the coast district, 
while in the interior suitable special build- 
ings or basements are apparently necessary. 
Anyone entering upon lemon handling should 
certainly visit establishments now in satis- 
factory use and learn by careful observatioii 
of their suitability to his purposes. 

Near the coast, and so far toward the 
interior as ocean influences extend in ade- 
quate degree, the building of special curing 
houses has been abandoned and some quite 
expensive structures have been turned to 



Curiiip- the Lemon 



326 



California Fruits : 



other uses. An objection to liouse-storagt 
lies in tiie fact that the fruit is apt to lie 
massed in the house and that which is just 
picked given the same ventilation as that 
which has been in the house several months, 
when, as a matter of fact, lemons in different 
stages of curing require radically different 
treatment as regards ventilation. As a result 
of this treatment some of the fruit is usually 
wilted from receiving too much air, while 
the greater portion of it is badly decayed 
from receiving too little. 



The Limoneira Company was first to equip 
a house on the open air plan. The house 
is 300x100 feet. The flooring is 2-inch 
planking and the roof covered with gravel- 
paper roofing. The building has no sides 
whatever, allowing free circulation of air. 
The fruit for storage is put into regular 
shipping boxes, piled in blocks of ^CxD boxes. 
There is a double row of these blocks on 
either side of a 20-foot space which extends 
to the entire length of the building, and 
which answers the double purpose of a 




Packing Lemons for shipment. Shows also curing tents on both sides. 



Proper ventilation is the keynote of success 
in keeping lemons, and after extensive and 
expensive e.xperience along the old lines, Mr. 
Teague of the Limoneira Company, already 
cited, concluded that lemon handlers had been 
on the wrong track in believing a low temper- 
ature first in importance. If the ventilatioii 
is right the temperature will take care of 
itself. Mr. Teague decided that proper con- 
ditions for keeping lemons lie just between 
the points where they wilt and where they 
sweat, inducing neither if possible, for too 
much moisture induces decay and too little 
causes shriveling. The fragment of the stem 
left on the fruit by the cutter may be used as 
a test: if it adheres, the conditions are right 
for slow curing; if it detaches easily, the 
best keeping quality is not being secured. 



work room and an air space. The boxes are 
so piled as to permit of the circulation of aip 
around each box. Each block of fruit is 
covered by a canvas 10x10x20, made box 
shape by a canvas cover and four canvas- 
curtains on rollers, the openings at the cor- 
ners being closed by lacings as desirable. 
The ventilation is controlled by raising or 
lowering the canvas, and each block of fruii 
can be given exactly the ventilation that 
it requires, irrespective of the other fruit in 
the house. By this method 50 or 100 cars 
of fruit can be handled and kept in as good 
condition as if there was only one. Each 
block being numbered, a complete record of 
the lemons from each of the six sections 
of the ranch is kept froin the time it is 
picked until the fruit is shipped. The fruit 



How to Grow Them 



327 



Varieties of the Lemon 



is all washed in a lemon washing machine, 
and is piled up in the house wet, just as 
it comes from the machine. The canvas cov- 
ers are not dropped over it, however, until 
it is thoroughly dry. An idea of these curing 
tents can be had from an adjacent engraving 
which shows them on both sides of a central 
space which is used for packing the fruit 
in the shipping boxes. 

\\'ith proper curing facilities lemons picked 
in Novemlier and December may be kept until 
the following July. Later pickings may not 
keep so well and may be marketed first. C)f 
the finer points in lemon handling, however, 
there is much which must be learned by ex- 
perience. 



VARIETIES OF LEMONS FOR 
CALIFORNIA. 

During the earlier years of California 
lemon growing there were continuous efforts 
put forth to secure better lemon varieties. 
During the last decade three varieties have 
been accepted as satisfactory and nearly all 
others have been dropped. The three are 
Eureka, Lisbon, and Villa Franca, arranged 
according to present degree of popularity in 
southern California, where nearly the whole 
commercial product is now made, although 
some plantings have been undertaken farther 
north, chiefly in the citrus belt on the east 
side of the San Joaquin valley. 

Eureka. — A native of California, originated by C. R. 
Workman, at Los Angeles, from seed imported from 
Hamburg iai 1872, only one seed growing, from 
which buds were put by him on orange stock. Dis- 
tributed by T. A. Garey, of Los Angeles. Tree very 
free from thorns. Fruit medium size, sweet rind, 
a good keeper, few seeds; very popular, especially 
in coast regions. Less popular in the interior be- 
cause of scant foliage. 

Lisbon. — Imported from Portugal ; first grown by 
D. M. Burnhani, of Riverside. Fruit uniformly 
medium size, rather oblong, fine grain, thin sweet 
rind, strong acid ; few seeds ; a good keeper ; tree 
is a strong grower, with compact foliage, prolific 
bearer, but starts bearing late ; quite thorny, bui 
thorns decrease in size as the tree grows older. 
Popular at interior points especially. 

Villa Franca. — Imported from Europe. Medium 
size, oblong, slightly pointed at the blossom end, rind 
thin, without bitterness, acid, strong, juicy, nearly 
seedless. Tree thornless, branches spreading and 
somewhat drooping, foliage abundant; witiistands 
lower temperature than other imported varieties. 



THE LLMT 

The lime {Citrus medica acida) has proved 
much less hardy than the lemon. It has been 
killed in situations where the orange and 
lemon have not been injured. Unless 
adequate protection is thought worth the 



/ 




Eureka Lemon. 

effort, there is little use in planting the lime, 
except in a frostless situation. Such locali- 
ties are found near the ocean in southern Cal- 
ifornia, and here and there at proper eleva- 
tion in the interior both north and south, still 
the growth of the lime must be counted very 
hazardous. Tliere is less inducement to ex- 
periment with the fruit from the fact that 
the Pacific Coast markets are well supplied 
with Mexican limes, usually at prices which 
leave no opportunity for competitors. 



Citrus Varieties 



328 



California Fruits : 



Limes are grown from seed, the variety 
usually coming true from seeed. The trees 
are small and are frequently grown in hedge 
form. The common variety is the Mexican. 
The. Imperial, a large, rather hardy variety 
is favorably reported by several growers. 



lections of citron trees imported from the 
Mediterranean region by the United States 
Department of Agriculture planted at several 
points in southern California. As yet no con- 
siderable product has been reached. There 
is, however, no cessation of interest, and 




Villa Franca. 

The three standard 



Eureka. 

lercial varieties of the le 



THE CITRON. 

This fruit (Citrus medica cedra) is little 
grown in California, although it is quite 
hardy and could be produced over a large 
area. The only use for the fruit, which re- 
sembles a monstrous lemon, is in its candied 
rind, and no one has deemed it worth while 
to push competition with the imported candied 
citron, though very fine experimental lots 
have been produced, and the interest of the 
fruit-preserving establishments in the product 
recurs periodically. There have been col- 



experimental planting continues, with a 
prospect of satisfactory attainment erelong. 
Samples of the candied article have been 
approved by experts as very satisfactory. 

ORNAMENTAL CITRUS SPECIES. 

There are grown in this State for curiosity 
or ornament various minor citrus species, 
Nincluding the Bergamot and the dwarf orna- 
mental sorts from Asia. There are, of 
course, the ornamental species grown by 
florists for their fragrant bloom. 



How to Grow Them 



329 



Standard Pack for Oranges. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

STANDARD PACKS FOR CITRUS FRUITS. 

OBVIOUSLY a treatise on California fruit could contain them. Such a work will un- 

growing cannot adequately cover the doubtedly be undertaken at some future time 

complementary subject of packing and market- by the author or I)y another writer. Still 

ing which has such a wealth of details of poli- it seems very proper to give space to dia- 

cies and methods that only a separate volume grammatic arrangement of citrus fruits in 

ORANGES. 




standard ^0-pack, four layers. 

(For 4S-pack see Pomelo.) 



OCIO 


QiQ^ 


^^jO^ 


^l3l^O 


^^^O^^j 


Q^^i 


ooo^ 


Q^OQ 



Standanl 96-pack, four layer.s.) 




Standard li!G-pack, five layers. 




Standard 112-pack, four layers. 



Standanl 17ti-paek, live layers. 



Standard Pack for Lemons 



330 



California Fruits : 

in 




standard 216-pack, six layers. 



Standard 324-pack, six layers. 



LEMONS. 




standard 210-pack, seven layers. 



.Standard 270-pack, five layers. 




Standard 240-pack, five layers 



Standard 300-pack, six layers 



How to Grow Them 



331 



Standard Pack for Pomelo 




Standaril 490-pack, seven layers. 



POMELO. 




standard r{lj-pack, three layers. 



Standard SO-pack, fonr layers 




Standard 4.S-pack, three layers. 

(Same for large offs, -iS-pack oranges. 



Standard !>H-pack, four layers. 



Standard Pack for Citrus Fruits 



332 



California Fruits 



Ijoxes both because it may be helpful to 
readers and for the suggestion it conveys 
that nothing but the most careful and syste- 
matic sizing and placing of fruits will serve 
a large and exacting trade. In this respect, 
this chapter may be taken as an exponent of 
the advanced methods of handling all fruits 
virithout which the present greatness of the 
fruit interests of California could never have 
been attained. 

Each of the foregoing diagrams gives the 
number of fruits of each size required to 
fill a box and the number of tiers in which 
they are placed. A standard orange box in 
California is 12x12x26 inches outside meas- 
urements with a fruit space 11^x113/2x24 
inches, and its weight is usually estimated 
at 72 pounds. A standard California lemon 
box is 1054x14x27 inches outside measure- 
ments, divided also into two compartments. 
Pomelos are packed in the orange box, while 
the Tangerines, Mandarins and other kid glove 
varieties are packed in half boxes of the 
orange size, two of which are cleated together 
for shipment. In rare instances they are 
packed in quarter bo.xes, four being cleated 
together. 

A carload of packed oranges varies some 
in number of boxes in keeping with the size 
of the car. A 36-foot car will take 336 
boxes, the 40- foot car 384 and the 42- foot 
409. In lemons the 36-foot car will take 288 
boxes, the 40- foot car 312 and the 42-foot 



car 336. When packed the boxes are placed 
on end two tiers high and six rows wide, with 
a space for ventilation between each and ev- 
ery box, made feasible by nailing small strips 
of lumber of sufficient strength crosswise of 
the car. 

In oranges the regular sizes are 126, 150, 
176, 200, 216; small "off-sizes" 250, 324, 360; 
large "off-sizes" 64, 80, 96, 112. The rela- 
tive value of the different sizes in the regular 
trade is given by Mr. Powell, whose excel- 
lent publication on the marketing of oranges 
is cited in the chapter on that fruit, in this 
way : "A car of Washington Navel oranges 
may contain boxes of all the sizes. A car 
is called a "standard car" when it contains 
not more than ten per cent of each of the 
following sizes: 96, 112 and 250, and not over 
twenty per cent of the 126 size. The re- 
mainder of the car may be divided among the 
150, 176, 200 and 216 sizes. If a car is sold 
to a dealer at a fixed price per box it is usual 
to allow a discount of 25 to 50 cents per 
box on the excess in the 96, 112, 126 and 
250 sizes, and a discount of 50 cents per box 
on the 48, 64, 80, 288, 300, 324, 360 and 420 
sizes. The rule concerning the sizes in a 
standard car may vary with the season, with 
the section and with the general size of the 
fruit taken as a whole. When oranges of 
either the large or small sizes are scarce, 
they are at a premium, and the proportion in 
a car may be raised without discount. 




How to Grow Them 



333 



The Banana 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 



MINOR SEMI-TROPICAL FRUITS IN CALIFORNIA. 



A NUMBER of interesting fruits are now 
grown in this State which, for one rea- 
son or another, have not yet attained any 
great commercial importance ahhough some 
of them are advancing in popular esteem and 
likely to gain much higher place in the 
markets. Others will probably never be 
grown except for home use and garden or- 
nament. 

THE BANANA. 

The banana has been a favorite plant for 
experimental culture for many years, and 
though good fruit has been grown at va- 
rious points in the State, the culture is 
too hazardous to warrant large investment, 
and if this danger was not present, the 
abundant supplies available from the islands 
of the Pacific would probably reduce the 
profits to a narrow margin. The banana 
can be trusted only in protected situations 
and in small numbers which can be given 
special attention. With these conditions the 
banana may yield very acceptable fruit for 
home use and be an ornament to the garden, 
its beauty is. however, seriously impaired by 
winds, which whip its tender leaves into 
shreds and give the plant an unkempt appear- 
ance. 

The largest number of bananas are seen 
in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, and one 
grower at an elevation near the latter place 
reports his table supplied daily throughout 
the year with the fruit of the Cavendish 
species which is the most commonly grown 
sort. The Yellow Martinique or Yellow 
Costa Rica, the Orenoco, the Hawaiian 
Lele, Hart's Choice, and a large-fruited 
variety known in Los Angeles County as 
the Baldwin, are also approved by growers. 
How to grow bananas in the garden, ac- 
cording to the experience of the late S. H. 
Oerrish, of Sacramento, is as follows : 



By experiment I liave found that the banana will 
live — if in a proper soil — without injury to the roots, 
at a temperature as low as sixteen degrees Fahr. ; 
the stalk will stand a temperature of twenty-five 
degrees without injury, and' the leaves are not 
wilted until the air is chilled, to thirty degrees. My 
method has been to supply the richest food for this 
gigantic plant and force it to its e.xtreme growth. 
Every one has old chip dirt, ashes, boots, shoes, 
clothes, and manure, which are often a nuisance. 
Dig a big hole, bury this up, in the centsr of the 
mass place ai pailful of sand, and plant the fresh 
bulb. This is to preserve the donnant plant from 
the wire-worms and insects, which will not attack 
the growing plant. As the plant grows, give it an 
abundance of water and all the slops of the house. 
Any kind of .manure, fresh or old, ashes, leaves, and 
vegetables will soon disappear and be absorbed by 
this gigantic king of plants. As the rainy season 
approaches, pile all the leaves and twigs of trees 
around the plants. It protects the bulbs and makes 
the soil rich for next season. 



THE CFIERIMOYER OR PERUVIAN 
CUSTARD APPLE. 
The oldest cherimoyer (Anona cherimolia) 
is growing in Santa Barbara. The fruit 
was introduced about fifty years ago, and the 
parent tree has for many years produced 
abundant fniit in such perfection that the 
seeds have readily germinated, and the trees 
thus propagated have been in successful 
bearing in several Santa Barbara gardens. 
The leaves are oval and pointed at both ends ; 
flowers solitary, very fragrant, and having a 
greenish color. Good specimens of the fruit 
are three or four inches in diameter, often 
beart-shaped, grayish brown or nearly black 
when fully ripe. The flesh, in which thirty 
or forty brown seeds are found, is soft, sweet, 
and pleasant to the taste, being most palat- 
able when near decay. Mr. L H. Cammack, 
of Whittier, describes the pulp as of the 
consistency of ice cream or a custard flavored 
with a blending of pineapples and bananas. 
If it has a fault it is too rich. Apparently 
it has no particular season for ripening, yet 
tlie best specimens seem to be found in Santa 



The Cherimover 



334 



California Fruits : 



Barbara in April and May. The cherimover 
is also found in gardens in San Diego and 
Los "Angeles Counties. It needs a well-pro- 
tected situation. The fruit has been marketed 
on a limited scale in Los Angeles, and larger 
plantations have been made, especially in the 
Cahuenga Valley, near Los Angeles. The 
plant comes true from seed and the tree 
bears in its fourth year, and should have 
as much room as an orange tree. Mr. C. P. 



from less than an inch in dianietcr np to six or 
eight inches. In size the tree averages about the 
same as the peach. The market is a good one, 
large fruit commanding $3 per dozen or more, while 
the smaller ones sell by the pound at a relatively 
lower price. 

THE CHCJCHO OR CHAYOTA. 

The chocho plant is fruiting in Santa Bar- 
bara County, for Mr. Kinton Stevens, of 
Montecito, who obtained the seed from Sa- 




Golden Russet Cherlmoyer. 



Taft, of Orange, points out the fact that 
much can be gained by selection and propa- 
gation from the most satisfactory trees, as 
follows : 

Cherimoyers found in the gardens of southern 
California are almost always seedlings, and generally 
shy bearers. There is but one named variety, so 
far as I am aware, the Golden Russet. This is very 
prolific and frequently attains large size. Specimens 
above one pound in weiglit are not uncommon. The 
quality is as good as any, but is variable owing to 
the season and time of ripening, much cold having 
a marked deteriorating effect. The normal shape 
is like that of the strawberry, and the variations 
frojn the normal are equally abundant ; in fact, in 
this respect the cheriniolia is quite extraordinary, 
as the same tree will have on it fully matured fruit 



moa. Scc/iiiiiii cdiilc is the botanical name of 
this plant, but it is perhaps better known as 
"choco," "chocho," chayota," and "Portu- 
guese squash." It belongs to the order cu- 
curbitacae, and is a perennial vine, resembling 
in growth and fruit our summer squash or 
vegetable marrow. It is a very prolific bear- 
er. Both the fruit and the great yam-like 
tuber are used as food by man and beast in 
the West Indies, where it is considered a 
wholesome article of diet. The roots often 
weigh as much as twenty pounds. They have 
a flavor similar to the yam, and are con- 
sidered a greater delicacy than the fruit, 
which in a raw state resembles the chestnut 



How to Grow Them 



335 



The Giiava 



ill flavor, and under favoraiale conditions 
weighs over three pounds. The proper way 
lo grow them is to plant the whole fruit, 
as they have but one seed, and they produce 
fruit in three months, tuider favorable con- 
(Jitions. 

THE GUA\'A. 

Two s])ecics of guava have been quite 
widely tried in this State — the strawberry 
guava (Psidiinii iattlcyajiiiiii) and the lemon 




Strawberry Guava. 



of a bright yellow, often with a red cheek. 
These variations are only what is naturally 
to be expected from seedlings, and almost 
no others have yet been planted. Mr. Taft 
has fruited cjuite a number, perhaps a hun- 
dred, and finds it to possess qualities which 
if properly selected and developed will cause 
it to equal the Strawberry guava in hardi- 
ness and flavor and early ripening. 

The guava grows quite readily from the 
seed, and grows from cuttings under glass. 
In regions of generous rainfall and on re- 
tentive soil it does not require irrigation, 
but it must have sufficient moisture at com- 
mand. A light loam seems best adapted 
to the shrub. 

THE FEIJOA. 

Along with the guava should be mentioned 
the Feijoa Sellowiana, a member also of the 
myrtle family. In habits of growth it is 
much the same as the guava and while the 
foliage is not so handsome, being of a 
generally silver gray effect, the flower is 
very showy. In May it sends forth a 
great profusion of blossoms, which may 
i)e called red, white and blue, unless one 
desires to be perfectly accurate, in which 
case the blue would have to be changed to 
inirple. The petals are unusually thick and 
fleshy and are very sweet to the taste. The 
highly perfumed fruit, about one and one- 
half to two inches or more in length, comes 
in November. The flavor is delicious, like 
the strawberry but lacking the acid. The 
seeds are very small, almost unnoticeable : 
quite a contrast in this respect to the guava. 



guava {FsidiuDi i:;iuiyaz'a ) . The former is 
the hardier, and, in fact, seems to be about 
as hardy as the orange, and it has fruited 
in widely-separated parts of the State ; the 
latter is quite tender, and is at present 
only grown in favorable places along our 
southern coast, and even there it is found 
inferior in quality and usefulness to the 
strawberry guava. 

Mr. C. v. Taft of Orange has confi- 
<lence in the lemon guava through the 
-.election of better varieties. It is far larger 
than the Strawberry, and of quite attractive 
;ip|)earance. Sometimes the color is almost 
white, sometimes f|uite green, and frequently' 



THE GRANADILLA. 

The granadilla is the term applied to the 
edible fruit of a species of passion vine 
( Passiflora cdiilis) which is quite hardy, and 
is growing in different parts of the State. 
The fruit is about the size of a small hen's 
egg, purple exterior when ripe, the thin, 
brittle shell inclosing a mass of small seeds 
covered with a bright yellow pulp, luildly 
acid, and of very agreeable flavor. Very 
good jelly has been made of the fruit. 
Another passion vine with large pink flowers 
is very widely distributed in California, and 
bears a large, yellowish-brown fruit with 
edible ])ul]). 



The Loquat 



336 



California Fruits : 



THE JUJUBE. 

The jujube {Zyziphus jujube), from the 
fruit of which the deHcate paste of the con- 
fectioner is, or should be, made, was in- 
troduced by G. P. Rixford in 1876, and 
is fruiting regularly and freely in several 
parts of the State. The plant is easily grown 
from seed or cuttings. The orange-red 
berries are produced three years from plant- 
ing, and ripen in November and December. 
They are edible fresh or dried. As yet 
the fruit has not been turned to commercial 
account. 



THE LOQUAT. 

The loquat (Eriobotrya Japonica) is 
widely grown in California as an orna- 
mental plant, and a small amount of fruit 
is profitably marketed each year. During 
the last twenty years a very marked im- 
provement in loquats has been achieved by 
painstaking effort by Mr. C. P. Taft, of 
Orange, whose experience is freely drawn 
upon in this chapter. Mr. Taft's work 
has demonstrated that this fruit is sus- 
ceptible of improvement in size, flavor, 
appearance, in bearing habit of the tree, 
and in direction of early and late varieties, 
and in all these directions not only in the 
line of better fruit, but fruit which com- 
mands in the market several times the value 
of the common types. Upon the basis of 
the new varieties the season for the loquat 
is from February to June, the bulk of the 
crop coming in April and the first half 
of May. The Advance Loquat was the 
first of the new varieties to attract atten- 
tion. It is very prolific. The fruit is 
often as much as three inches in length, and 
from one inch to one and one-half inches 
in diameter; it being of a peculiar pear 
shape. The clusters frequently contain 
twenty specimens. Its color is a bright 
orange yellow when fully ripe, and it 
should never be picked until it is so. The 
flavor is distinct and very sweet. Many 
compare it to the cherry. If not bruised 
when handled it will keep easily two weeks, 
growing sweeter by the process, and will 
eventually shrivel up without decay, thus 
proving itself capable of being shipped long 
distances. Mr. Taft has named the follow- 
ing: varieties : 



Blush. — Very large, much like Advance ; resistant 
to diseases. 

Advance. — Yellow, pear-shaped, from two to three 
inches in length, clusters very large, very sweet 
when fully ripe. 

Premier. — Salmon-colored, oval, large, hut iwt as 
large as the Advance, sweet, but peculiar flavor. 

I'ictor. — Largest, color pink to red, probably the 
best for canning. 

Pineapple. — Very large, round, immense clusters; 
flesh white, skin yellow. 

Commercial. — Very large, pear shaped, yellow with 
white flesh. 

THE PERSIMMON. 

The persimmon of the southern States 
(Diospyros Virginiana) was introduced into 
California in early days some time ago, 
as there are trees thirty to forty feet high 




Tane-Nashi Persimmon. 

growing on Rancho Chico. The widely- 
distributed species, however, is the Japanese 
(Diospyros Kaki), of which many varieties 
are now fruiting in different parts of the 
State. The tree is quite hardy, and fruits 
freely both along the- coast region and in the 
interior. It easily takes the form of a low 




The Victor Loquat : a California variety. 



How to Grow Them 



337 



The Pomegranate 



standard, and with its large, glossy leaves 
during the summer, and its immense, high- 
colored fruit clinging to the twigs after the 
leaves have fallen, it is a striking object 
in the orchard or in the house garden. 

Persim;nons grow readily from seed, but 
in most cases the improved varieties must 
be reproduced by grafting on seedlings 
either of the Japanese or American species. 
The tree seems to thrive in any fair fruit 
soil, taking very kindly to close soils if 
well cultivated. The amounts of fruit now 
reaching our markets are increasing and 
a demand is found for certain amounts 
at fair prices, but there is no object now 
apparent for large increase of production. 
This fruit, so highly esteemed in the Orient 
and so highly praised by travelers, has 
not become as popular as expected on this 
coast, nor have the great markets at the 
East lequired more than a car-load or 
two a year so far. Americans who wish 
persimmons at all seem to prefer the smaller 
Init more piquant Virginia species. 

Recently, however, the local demand has 
increased because of the large numbers of 
Japanese who are now upon the Pacific 
Coast and a shipping demand for the fruit 
from Seattle to the Hawaiian Islands and other 
Pacific ports, has arisen. The removal of 
astringency while the fruit remains firm 
has been successfully accomplished by Mr. 
George C. Roeding of Fresno, following a 
Japanese method. It is simply to place the 
fruit in tubs, from which saki, or Japanese 
"rice beer," has been lately removed. The 
tubs are hermetically sealed, and the fruit 
left in them from eight to ten days. When 
it is then removed, it is found to have 
altogether lost the puckering power. Mr. 
Roeding says that he used eight large 
saki tubs, each of which would hold twenty- 
five gallons, and in those treated one thousand 
pounds of persimmons. 

THE PINEAPPLE. 

Casual experiments with the pineapple 
in the open air in this State have been 
made for a number of years, the fruit be- 
ing occasionally produced. Most has been 
accomplished by Mr. J. B. Rapp, of Holly- 
wood, Los Angeles County. Mr. Rapp's 
place is in the Cahuenga Valley, and in that 
part of the valley which is famed as frostless, 



where even beans and tomatoes survive 
winter temperatures. Mr. Rapp set out 
his first twenty-five plants in 1891, and a 
number of his neighbors also set out groups 
of plants, but two years finis'ied up all 
but his. In 1893 the first of his plants 
fruited, but they did not seem to take kindly 
to the situation at fiist. They grew very 
slowly and the first fruit only weighed half 
a pound. After setting out his own accli- 
mated plants, they have done better each 
year, and the fruit which Mr. Rapp has 
sold recently has weighed from two to 
four pounds each. If the strongest offsets 
or suckers are planted they bear inside of 
a' year, and Mr. Rapp is endeavoring to 
have his fruit set from May to November, 
as the fruit setting at other times in the 
year is usually undersized on account of 
the slow growth during the winter and early 
spring. It seems probable that the pine- 
apple resents the dry air of our summer 
as weh as the lack of winter heat, and 
a lath covering and a summer spraying 
may be desirable. It is very doubtfu! 
whether the fruit can be profitably grown 
in this State on a commercial scale. 

The pineapple thrives best on a fine 
sandy loam, but will grow well on man> 
soils if well drained and cultivated. The 
plants can be set three by three or four 
by five feet, so as to allow cultivation both 
ways while the plants are young. Plants 
are secured from ''suckers," which come 
from the root, from "slips," which grow 
on the stem just below the "apple," and 
from "crowns" or the tufts of leaves at 
the top of the fruit. Suckers are said to 
bear in one year, and slips and crowns in 
two years. Strong suckers are best for 
planting, and they should be set out early 
in the spring as soon as the danger of 
cold weather is over. 

THE POMEGRANATE. 

This fruit (Punica granatum), famed in 
literature and art, is grown in various parts 
of the State, and certain amounts are 
profitably sold. The shrub or low tree, 
in good soil, will reach the height of twenty 
feet. It is a hardy plant, easy of propa- 
gation from seed or cutting. The beauty 
of the tree, not taking the fruit into account, 
lias caused it to be planted in many gardens. 



The Melon Tree 



338 



California Fruit! : 



Exposed to the raw sea winds it does not 
bloom well nor set with fruit, and is best 
adapted to the wanner regions of the in- 
terior, where it is an early and abundant 
bearer. The variety chiefly cultivated is a 
bright orange color, but there is found 
a large variety of them, varying from almost 
pure white with a faint blush, to dark red. 
A very striking variety, with deep red pulp, 
is grown by Mr. J. T. Bearss, of Tulare. 
The fruit ripens in the warmer parts of the 
State, north and south, in October. 

THE STRAWBERRY TREE. 

The Spanish madrono (Arbutus unedo) 
it now quite widely grown, chiefly as an 
ornamental shrub or tree. The growth 
is exceedingly beautiful if kept free from 
scale insects, the fruit ranging as it ripens 
through shades of yellow, orange, and deep 
red, and contrasting beautifully with the 
glossy evergreen foliage. The fruit is of 
pleasant flavor. 

MELON SHRUB. 

This plant ( Solatium Guatemalense) is 
a small, half-herbaceous shrub from the 
table-land of Guatemala. The fruit is 
yellow, splashed with violet, somewhat of 
the shape of the egg-plant, but is usually 
seedless, and is readily propagated from 
cuttings. There are thriving plants in many 
protected places in the State, and some 
fruit reaches the market, but few seem to 
like the flavor, which is somthing like a 
tomato and melon mixed. Its greatest use 
will probably be for salads. 

THE MELON TREE. 

The melon pawpaw {Carica papaya) has 
been widely introduced experimentally in 
this State, and many situations are found 
unfitted for its growth, but satisfactory 
fruiting has been secured at several places 
in southern California, especially if pro- 
tected the first year it will stand light 
frosts afterwards. With Mr. Cammack, 
at Whittier, Los Angeles County, it ripens 
fruit the third year from the seed — the fruit 
being pleasant to eat as one would a mush- 
room. The large fig-like leaves and the 
peculiar markings of the trunk make the 
tree a very striking object. 



THE PRICKLY PEAR. 

The tuna, or fruit of the cactus {Opuntia 
Z'ulgaris), is produced in nearly all parts 
of the State except on the mountains. It was 
one of the old mission fruits, and was en- 
joyed by the early mining population until 
better fruits were available. It is about as 
large as a medium-sized pear, and has a 
pleasant acid flavor if one succeeds in escap- 
ing the prickles in getting at the interior of 
the fruit. The tuna is still a commercial 
article in a small way. Plants are grown 
readily from cuttings of the fleshy leaves. 

Quite a distinction must now be made be- 
tween the foregoing and the smooth or spine- 
less fruits which are superior in quality as 
well as unarmed with prickles, and there- 
fore readily handled and eaten. Varieties 
more or less innocent in this respect were 
introduced from the Mediterranean region 
many years ago, and propagated to a limited 
extent. Recently Mr. Luther Burbank of 
Santa Rosa has undertaken special work 
with the cactus, both for fruiting and for- 
age purposes, and has attained remarkable 
results which are attracting wide attention, 
and upon which producing enterprises are 
being undertaken. 

THE ALLIGATOR PEAR. 

The avocado, or Aguacate of the Mexicans 
(Persca gratissinia) has proved hardy in sev- 
eral districts in the State, north and south. 
It is not likely that it will be satisfactory with- 
out high summer heat and freedom from 
heavy frosts. It is, however, one of the 
most promising of its class of fruits, as it 
is known to epicures, and its marketing at 
a high price reasonably assured. Mr. J. C. 
Harvey, of Los Angeles, gives this inter- 
esting account of it : 

It is a handsome evergreen tree, and, in the 
typical form, bears elUptical leaves from two and 
one-half to three inches in width, narrow toward 
the base, and about six inches long. In some varieties 
the new growth is of a reddish brown, ultimately 
becomin<T deep green. The fruits are pear-shaped, 
about the size of a Bartlett pear, and contain a 
single, rather large seed. When ripe, the skin, which 
is much thinner than that of an orange, parts easily 
from the pulp, which is of a moderately firm though 
buttery consistency, and forms, with lime juice or 
pepper and salt, one of the most delicious salads 
known to epicures. Indeed, the fruit is a perfect 
mayonnaise in itself. Few persons fail to like it, 
even at first, and in countries where it is common, 
it is esteemed above all other vegetable productions. 



How to Grow Them 



339 



The Tree Tomato 



both by natives and foreigners alike, the pulp is 
quite rich in a bland and most agreeable oil. said 
to be very nutritious. The tree attains a height of 
from twenty-five to thirty-five feet, and forms^ a 
handsome object when liberally cultivated. The 
tree is a gross feeder. Good-sized trees carry a 
large crop, which, after attaining a certain size, can 
be picked at intervals of a week or two extending 
over a period of two or three months, the fruits in 
each instance ripening in a week or ten days after 
gathering; and a very remarkable fact is that the 
quality or flavor of the last picking seems just the 
sa.me as the first. 

The allitjator pear must be considered as 
one of the most protnising fruits included in 
this chapter ; it may prove the most profitable 
of the group. Efforts are in progress in 
California and elsewhere for improved vari- 
eties by selection and propagation by budding 
with the ordinary shield-bud and a waxed 
cloth binding, is easily done. The literature 
of the alligator pear is increasing and should 
be consulted.* Of progress in its growth thus 
far in southern California Mr. Taft writes : 

It is hardly probable that here in California we can 
ever produce fruit quite equal in size to the largest 
from the tropics, but there are smaller and hardier 
varieties which are no whit inferior but rather bet- 
ter in flavor and richness which have been found 
to do well. These are from local or Mexican seeds 
whose ancestors for many generations have grown 
in a climate much like our own. In southern Cal- 
ifornia there are perhaps a hundred trees old 
enough to bear. Of these about ten produce abun- 
dant and regular crops. Fortunately they are so 
located as to indicate that there is a considerable 
area adapted to Avocado. Of these first class trees 
one or two grow at Hollywood, two or three in Los 
Angeles, one at Monrovia, one at Santa Ana, and 
I have two or three at Orange. One of those at 
Hollywood is probably the most prolific. 

It is from these trees that we should establish 
our groves. Probably the safest plan is to plant in 
orchard seedling trees, direct from the can or pot 
in which they are started, for many have found the 
Avocado rather cranky about transplanting. When 
balled though it moves readily enough Trees 
which do not fruit satisfactorily can be budded over 
as soon as this fact is shown. 

_ As there is an uncommonly great variation in the 
time of blooming and also in the period required 
for the fruit of d'flferent types of trees to come 
to matnritv, an orchard may be obta-'ned by selection 
which will bear continuously. This is of course 
very desirable to the consumer and immaterial to 
the market grower, as there is plenty of demand at 
all limes. 

The tree at Monrovia was grown by W. 
ChaDoelow and has been named for him 
by W. A. Taylor of the U. S. Department of 

•The AvoratiobyG N. ColUns. liuUetiii 77, Rureaii of Plant 
Industry. f.S. Dept. of Apr. 1907. rmisult also Yearbooks of 
the U.S. Dept. of Agr. for 1905 and 1*6. 



Agriculture who imported the seed from 
Mexico. 

THE WHITE SAPOTA. 

There are two old trees in Santa Barbara, 
one believed to have survived from the mis- 
sion planting in the early part of the last cen- 
tury, the other half as old, of the white sapo- 
ta {Casimiroa ednlis). Dr. Franceschi com- 
mends the tree for every garden. Mr. Har- 
vey of Los Angeles describes the sapota as 
growing with hiin from seed from Vera 
Cruz as follows : 

This tree endures slight frosts unharmed. It is 
indijenous in northwest Me.xico and is remarkable 
among the Aurantiacca, producing green colored 
flowers, and superficially bears little resemblance to 
an otherwise well-.mnrkcd order of plants. The 
fruits are the size of apples, and are esteemed in 
that portion of Mexico where it is common ; ac- 
cording to some botanical authorities it is not consid- 
ered altoeether wholesome, possessing narcotic prop- 
erties. The pulp is described as possessing a de- 
licious, melting, peach-like taste. 

Mr. Taft reports the sapota as bearing well 
with him. The tree is an exceedingly rapid 
grower, much after the habit of the walnut, 
but evergreen. In August and September 
the peach-like fruit, greenish yellow, with 
large seeds shaped like those of an orange, 
matures well and is excellent, this being the 
normal season for ripening. At other times 
fruit is often found, but is apt to be worthless 
and even dangerous. As it will not ripen 
well off the trees and must he quite soft 
when eaten, it will never be of much market 
value. 

THE TREE TOMATO. 

This plant (Cyphomandra bcfacca) was 
brought to general notice by Mr. Cammack 
of Whittier. It is a native of Central Amer- 
ica and is of shrubby habit, growing five or 
six feet high, with large, shining leaves, often 
a foot long. The flowers are fragrant, of a 
pale flesh color, with yellow stamens, and 
are followed by fruit the shape and size of 
a duck's egg, at first of a purple tint, but 
gradually assuming a warm, reddish color 
as it ripens. When ripe the fruit may be 
used raw as a toinato is. If the skin is re- 
moved and the fruit stewed with sugar, it 
has a slight sub-acid flavor which is very re- 
freshing. It makes a fine jelly. The plants 
bear the second year from the seed and the 
fruit ripens continuously for several months. 



The Kai Apple 



340 



California Fruits 



The seeds should be started just as are those 
of the common tomato, and the plants set 
out eight or ten feet apart. 

THE KAI APPLE. 
This name is applied to the fruit of Abc- 
ria Caffra, a native of Natal and Kafifaria, 
a tall shrub, yielding an edible fruit of a 
golden yellow color, about an inch in diame- 
ter. It is commended as a hedge plant, as 
it is densely clothed with strong dry spines. 
The leaves are small and of a rich green 
hue. The fruit, which is produced freely 
in the warmer parts of the State, is chiefly 
used for making preserves. 



OTHER FRUITS. 

The foregoing enumeration does not in- 
clude all the exotic fruits which have found 
a place on California soil. There are many 
more, some of which are demonstrating their 
iitness to add to the graces or the gains of 
our horticultural life. The caricas, caris- 
sas, eugenias, hovenia, etc., are all gaining 
places in California gardens. Even the more 
strictly tropical mango, the monstera, sapodil- 
la and the like are claiming the attention of 
amateurs. 




PART SIX: SMALL FRUITS. 



How to Grow Them 



343 



Small Fruits 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



BERRIES AND CURRANTS IN CALIFORNIA. 



T N SUITABLE soils and situations, and with 
' proper care and cultivation, the small fruits 
sustain the general reputation of California 
by the size and quality of the product, and 
by the long-continued and abundant fruiting 
of the plants. Probably nowhere else in the 
world do small fruits better repay generous 
treatment than in this State, and probably 
nowhere do they suflfer more from neglect. 
There are parts of the State, of course, where 
some small fruits, left to their own resources, 
thrive and bear abundantly, but, speak- 
ing of the State as a whole, the price of suc- 
cess is intelligent devotion on the part of the 
grower. 

There are localities in California which 
favor almost continuous growth and fruiting 
of some of the small fruits, and it is no fic- 
tion to say that in such a place one may have 
raspberries and strawberries upon his table 
every month of the year. Such situations 
are the thermal belts, which are practically 
frostless, and, by securing favoring moisture 
conditions in the soil and proper varieties of 
the fruits, the existing temperature condi- 
tions will produce the results indicated. 
Though this be the case, the profitable growth 
of small fruits is not, of course, restricted to 
such situations, but the largest commercial 
enterprises are carried on in places where the 
summer-crop rule prevails, but the bearing 
season is much longer than in the eastern 
States. 

Small fruits for family use may be 
grown on all fertile soils, and therefore they 
should be produced on every farm. Growing 
for market on a large scale involves con- 
siderations of suitability of soil and climate, 
ease of cultivation, water supply, and facili- 
ties for transportation, which will probably 
occur to any one who gives the matter the 
thought n-d personal observation of existing 
small fruit farms, which such an important 
commercial venture should command. 



It is often claimed that soil for small fruits 
should be deep and rich of the types gener- 
ally called garden soils. There is an advan- 
tage in this because of amount of plant food 
and retention- of moisture when well culti- 
vated, but at the same time shallow soils even 
when overlying hardpan, which may not suit 
deep rooting trees or garden roots, can be 
profitably used for small fruits if water and 
fertilizers are intelligently used. This will be 
stated more fully in the discussion of the 
strawberry, but the general fact is pertinent 
to the growth of other small fruits also. 

Preparation of soil for small fruits should 
be most thorough and careful. Even more 
generous work than that commanded in 
Chapter X for trees and vines should be done. 
It is the more necessary to work deeply be- 
cause subsequent culture of small fruits must 
be shallow. 

THE BLACKBERRY. 

The blackberry is a great favorite in Cali- 
fornia markets. It thrives in all parts of the 
State, and the plant is best suited of all small 
fruits to yield generously without irrigation, 
though it relishes sufficient moisture and re- 
pays it with fruit. There is great difference 
in practice as to supplying water artificially. 
The growth of cane, and the size and appear- 
ance of the fruit, will show the observing 
grower what should be the practice in his 
situation, and the general suggestions as to 
irrigation in Chapter XV are applicable. 
There are regions in which blackberries are 
irrigated weekly throughout the summer, and 
others in which the berries are gathered from 
June to November without irrigation. Of 
course, with such wide local variations there 
can be no general rule for practice. Let the 
grower simply bear in mind that if he does 
not get good, plump, and glistening fruit and 
good strong growth of new canes at the 
same time, he should give irrigation. The 



Propagation 



344 



California Fruits : 



requirements of the p'ant during the fruiting 
season are great, and they must be met. 
Many failures are due to lack of irrigation 
when needed. 

Propagation. — Blackberry plants are se- 
cured by digging up the shoots from old 
stools, securing therewith a bunch of fibrous 
roots with a portion of the main root. To 
propagate on a large scale dig up the roots 
entirely, and, cutting them up with pruning 
shears into pieces about two inches long, 
plant them in a well-prepared bed in the 
garden or nursery. Place the root cuttings 
about two inches apart and cover about three 
inches deep with well-pulverized soil, the 
depth being regulated of course, accordmg to 
the nature of the soil, deeper in light thai? 
heavy soils. A light mulch will assist in re- 
taining moisture. The tim».* for this work is 
at the dormant period of the plant. One 
summer's growth gives good plants for set- 
ting out. 

Planting out Blackberries. — Blackber- 
ries should be planted in rows far enough 
apart to admit of 'the use of the horse and 
cultivator. As the constant tendency of the 
plant is to extend itself in the growth of new 
canes, the rows should not be less than six 
to eight feet apart, and the plants about three 
feet apart in the row. The plants soon oc- 
cupy the full space in the row, and cultiva- 
tion is only possible between the rows. Some 
growers plant blackberries as they do grape- 
vines, seven or eight feet apart both ways, 
and then cultivate with the horse both ways. 
Planting in rows is better. The number of 
plants to fill an acre at different distances can 
be calculated as described in Chapter XXIV 
for grape-vines. 

D. Edson Smith, of Orange County, who 
had much experience with small fruits, de- 
scribed his method of laying out and planting 
on a large scale, with a view to irrigation, as 
follows : 

Plow deeply and harrow thoroughly several times 
liefore setting out. Lastly, open a trench with 
>our plow where the row is to be, twenty inches 
deep ; go along with a basket of plants, a four-foot 
lath and a shovel, and set a plant in this trench 
every four feet and fill the dirt around it with the 
shovel. If this trench is too deep in places for the 
length of the plant root, fill in with a little dirt: if 
not quite deep enough in places, scoop out a shovel- 
ful. Aim, in preparing the ground with plow and 
smoother, to leave it dishing each wa\' toward the 



row of young plants, so that irrigating water turned 
in at the upper end will run along the row of plants 
as in a trough. Aim to have the ground around 
the set plants a few inches below the general level 
of the land. After the plants are all set in a row, 
go dion^ with a rake if there are but a few plants, 
oi with a horse-hoe if there are many, and fill in the 
trench between the plants. It is a pleasure to set 
out plants in this way, and such deep, rich 
well-stirred soil delights the plant roots, so that 
they grow rapidly in every direction, and the plants 
throw up their heads in a manner entirely satis- 
factory to all concerned. If the ground is dry, or 
there is no rain soon after setting out the plants, 
irrigating water should be turned down the row 
or at least a quart or two of water poured around 
each plant ; then, before the soil hardens, stir it 
well with cultivator and hoe. All future care re- 
solves itself into frequent waterings and frequent 
stirrings of the soil. Allow no weeds to appear, and 
keep three inches of surface soil well loosened with 
the horse and hoes. These small fruits require 
frequent waterings, especially when forming fruit 
i'iid during the fruiting season. 

Cultivation. — Thorough cultivation of the 
surface soil is essential for retention of mois- 
ture. After the plants attain size, cultivation 
should be secured with as shallow-ctitting 
tools as possible so as to prevent injury to the 
roots, which not only weakens the plant, but 
increases the growth of suckers between the 
rows. A horse-hoe with a long knife running 
horizontally, or with duck-foot teeth, well 
sharpened, answers well in keeping the 
grotwd clear of weeds and suckers, and the 
surface loose. Due regard must, however, be 
paid to securing sufficient depth in this sur- 
face layer to prevent the soil beneath baking 
hard and. drying out, as discussed in the chap- 
ter on cultivation 

Frequency of cultivation depends upon irri- 
gation, for the cultivator nuist always follow 
the application of water. The spaces in the 
row which can not be reached with the culti- 
vator must be kept clean from weeds, and free 
from baking, by the use of the hoe. It is 
advisable that the cultivation be the cleanest 
possible, for moisture exhaustion by weeds^ 
can not be afforded. 

Pruning and Training. — There is a little 
difference in the way of training blackberries 
practiced in this State. Of course this does 
not include the "let alone" system, which is 
not followed by any good grower. The 
difference lies mainly in the use or disuse of 
artificial supports for the canes — the prevail- 
ing practice being to dispense with them. In 
either case the pruning of the canes is simi- 



How to Grow Them 



345 



Varieties of the Blackberr\- 



lar in kind but different in degree, for if no 
supports are used, the canes are headed lower. 

At planting out, cut back the cane to near 
the surface of the ground and mark the plant 
with a small stake. At first the top growth 
should not be checked, but when new canes 
grow out strongly they should be pinched at 
the tip to force out lateral branches for 
fruiting the next 3ear. Those who intend to 
tie canes to a stake or trellis let them attain a 
height of five or six feet before pinching off 
the te-minal bud ; those who intend to teach 
the cane to stand alone pinch when it is from 
two to four feet high. All agree to pinch of^ 
the ends of the lateral branches at about 
twelve inches from the main stem. This 
pinching of blackberry canes may be done 
by the watchful grower of a few plants, with 
the thumb and finger, but thrifty blackberry 
plants are such rapid cane growers that in large 
plantations cutting back is often done with a 
sickle or corn hook or sharp butcher-knite, 
.several times in the course of the summer. 
It is also advisable to thin out the suckers 
with the hoe while cutting out weeds, leaving 
only about as many as it is desired to have 
for fruit the next season. This method gives 
stout canes, with plenty of short side branches, 
well supplied with buds, which will send out 
fruiting shoots the following spring. If sup' 
ports are used, the four to six canes wh'ch 
are left to each stool are gathered within a 
loosely-drawn bale rope and tied to the stake ; 
or if a trellis is used, the branches are 
brought up to the wire or slat so that the 
*listance is about evenly divided between the 
•shoots. 

Though these systematic methods of sum- 
mer pruning are practiced and advocated by 
the most careful growers, it should be stated 
that there are large plantations which are 
conducted upon a more simple system. The 
pruning consists in cutting out old canes 
in the winter, and the only summer pruning 
IS slashing off these canes which interfere 
with cultivation. The canes are sometimes 
held up by tying bunches of them together 
with ropes. Of course this system costs less 
than the more careful one which has been 
described, and yields profit enough to induce 
adherence to it. No doubt quite as great 
weight of berries could be had from a smaller 
area by a better system of growing. 

After the leaves fall, the canes which have 
borne fruit during the summer are all cut off 



even with the surface of the ground witii 
long-handled pruning shears or with a short 
hooked knife with a long handle, and all 
debris removed from the rows. 

Application of Manure. — The blackberry 
loves very rich ground, and plenty of well- 
rotted stable manure or compost, as described 
in Chapter XIV, should be applied. It is a 
good plan to apply in a thick covering all 
over the ground and between the canes as 
soon as the patch is cleaned up in the fall. 
The early rains carry down the soluble parts 
of the manure, and later in the season the 
whole is plowed in between the rows, leaving 
a foot or more next the planto to be carefully 
forked in, as the digging fork does not cut 
the roots like the spade. 

Mulching. — The mulch, to keep the 
ground moist and to obviate summer cultiva- 
tion, is very satisfactory where it is thor- 
oughly done. Apply coarse manure or par- 
tially-rotted straw and the like, after the 
last spring cultivation, and use the hoe to 
keep dow'u weeds and suckers which come up 
between the rows. Some growers use mulch 
close to the canes, cultivating the remainder 
of the ground between the rows. 

Bearing Age and Longevity. — If black- 
berry plants are well treated the first year 
after planting out, there will be considerable 
fruit the following summer. How long the 
plants will bear satisfactorily depends, also, on 
situation and treatment. Sometimes the 
plants fail early ; even with good, generous 
treatment in good soil, the old stool becomes 
weak, the shoots are thin, and the fruit small. 
Some count about eight years as the profit- 
able age of the plant, and then cut out the 
plant? and give the land a change. Of course 
berry growers prepare for this by frequently 
making new plantations. 

Varieties op the Blackberry. — Compara- 
tively few kinds are largely grown. The Wil- 
son Jtiiiior, Lawton, and Kittatinny were 
formerly the prevailing kinds, ripening in the 
order named. The Erie is favored by some 
as a middle season variety. The Early Har- 
vest has been favorably reported by a number 
of growers. These have, however, been 
largely superseded by a renamed variety, 
Crandall's Early, which is the earliest of the 
improved varieties, and has a very long fruit- 



Improved Varieties 



346 



California Fruits r 



ing season. The fruit was named after Di. 
J. R. Crandall, of Auburn, who first fruited 
the variety from plants given him by a 
stranger haihng from Texas, and the proper 
name of the variety is probably Texas Early. 
It is a strong, vigorous, hardy plant, very 
productive, of firm, handsome berries ; re- 
sembles Lawton in canes, leaves, and flavor 
of fruit ; not given to sprouting from running 
roots. 

Another variety which has advanced in 
favor is the Oregon Evergreen, introduced 



ducing a fruit so large that it has been named 
"Mammoth" by its originator. The canes of 
the Mammoth are very peculiar, being very 
large and thickly covered with small, short 
spines. The canes start early in March, grow 
thick and stout until about five feet high. 
They then take on a running habit and grow 
from twenty-five to thirty feet in a season. 
Late in the fall the tips or stolons seek the 
ground and take root. The Mammoth is not 
an evergreen like its Texas parent, although 
it does not entirelv lose its leaves in winter. 




The Phenomenal Blackberry-Raspberry Hybrid. 



from Oregon but not native nor originated 
in that state. The late John Rock described 
it as follows : "Origin unknown ; beautiful ; 
cut-leaved foliage, which it retains during the 
winter; berries large, black, sweet, rich, and 
delicious. It continues to ripen from July to 
November, which makes it one of the best 
berries for family use." It loses size and 
quality notably on scant moisture. 

Some effort has been made to secure im- 
proved varieties of our native blackberry, and 
a most striking result has been secured by 
Judge J. H. Logan, of Santa Cruz, by cross- 
ing the wild berry with Crandall's Early, pro- 



It begins to grow and flower very early in 
spring and ripens its fruit the last of May, 
some weeks earlier than the Lawton. The 
fruit is more acid than the Lawton, but, when 
perfectly ripe, is sweet and of superior flavor. 
When cooked or canned the flavor is identi- 
cal with the wild berry of California. This 
variety is often wrongly called "Black Logan- 
berry." 

The Himalaya is a blackberry of wonderful 
growth and prolificness, highly praised by 
amateurs but not yet fully made out from a 
commercial point of view. It is magnificent 
on a garden fence or trellis. 



How to Grow Them 



347 



Propagation of tlie Currant 



The Dewberry. — The improved varieties 
of the dewberry, or traiUng blackberry, are 
now quite widely known and highly praised. 
Some growers use trellises; others train the 
vines along rows on the ground surface. The 
following is the method of Mr. A. M. Hun- 
ger, of Fresno, and includes irrigation ar- 
rangements : 

For planting the Lucretia dewberry, prepare the 
gound by plowing deep and cultivating until the 
dirt is thoroughly pulverized. Set the plants about 
three inches deep and four feet apart, in rows, 
leaving a space of six feet between the rows. Plant 
between February 15 and March 15. Irrigate as 
often as once a month, always thoroup-hly cultivating 
after each irrigation. By so doing a sufficient growth 
is secured to produce a good crop the second year. 
Immediately after the first rainfall, generally in 
October, the vines should be pruned by cutting back 
within about si.xteen inches of the base of the vine. 

In February of the second year, plow between 
the rows with a small one-horse plow, turning the 
furrows toward the vines, but using a shield so as 
not to cover them. Follow immediately with a hoe, 
drawing the dirt up under the vines and forming 
a ridge- This ridge should be high enough to keep 
the vines up out of the water when irrigating. 
After this ridge is formed, water should be run 
quite often, as the dewberry requires a great deal 
of water to mature properly. The vines should be 
irrigated as often as three times at least during the 
spring. The fruit begins to ripen in Fresno about 
May 25, and continues about one month. The dew- 
terry roots readily from the tips without cover- 
ing if the soil is loose and moist. If many plants 
are desired it is advisable to cover slightly, and the 
tips will root as soon as the soil is moistened by 
the fall rains. 

The dewberry which has recently been most 
largely planted in central and southern Cali- 
fornia is known as the Gardena because of 
the prolificness and profitability of a patch 
grown by W. M. Gray of Gardena, Los Ange- 
les county. Its qualities are vigorous growth, 
hardiness, regular and profuse yield of large, 
earlv berries. 



THE CRANBERRY. 

Though attention has been given to experi- 
ments with the growth of the Cranberry in 
California for many years, it has not been 
demonstrated that the culture is successful or 
p'-ofitable. Cranberries have been produced, 
and the fruit shown at fairs, but beyond this 
nothing has yet been accomplished. It would 
seem to be a fair conclusion that even in the 
most moist regions our summer air is too 
dry to suit the plant. 



THE CURRANT. 

The currant reaches perfection in size and 
quality in parts of California adapted to its 
growth, but its area is comparatively small. 
The plant does not thrive in the dry, heated 
air of the interior either at the north or south. 
It does well near the coast, especially in the 
upper half of the State, and is grown for 
market chiefly, on lands adjacent to the bay 
of San Francisco. The comparatively cool 
and moist air of the ocean favors it, but even 
here the sunburn, which is the bane of its 
existence in the interior valleys, occasionally 
injures the fruit. Away from the coast, cur- 
rants are grown to a limited extent along the 
Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, near 
their confluence, but not in the hot valleys 
whence they flow. On the foot-hills, too, 
where the plant has a northerly slope, or other 
cooling influence, and sufficiently moist soil, 
it will do moderately well. It is quite pos- 
sible that the currant may be satisfactorily 
grown for home use, or for local market in 
parts of the State where at present one does 
not find it, providing the moderating effect 
of elevation and northerly exposure, coupled 
with the shade of trees, be secured, but even 
then the hot north wind of the early summer 
may often injure the fruit. So far as the 
metropolitan market is concerned, it does not 
matter that the currant area is limited, for 
existing plantations produce all, and some- 
times more, than can be profitably disposed of 
at present. It is possible however that the 
future may show a larger demand, for the 
pure food laws are likely to prevent the fur- 
ther selling of apple jelly with a currant color 
and flavor under the name of currant jelly. 

Propagation.— The currant is readily 
grown from cuttings. As soon as the bush 
drops its leaves, and the ground is in con- 
dition, as to moisture, secure the cuttings a 
foot in length from straight wood of the last 
growth, and place them in nursery or in per- 
manent place, in good sandy or garden loam, 
deeply spaded and well broken up. Set the 
cutting firmly in the earth, six or seven 
inches deep. If they are to be trained as 
small trees, every bud below where the low- 
est limb is to start should be cut out — even to 
the end of the cutting underground — other- 
wise they will be continually throwing up 
suckers. If they are to grow as bushes, the 
natural and more productive form of the 



Pruning the Gooseberry 



348 



California Fruits : 



currant, set them as they are taken from the from one and a half to three tons to the 
parent bush. acre. 



Pl.'\nting and Care. — Currants are usually 
grown in rows about five or six feet apart, 
the plants standing two and a half or three 
feet apart in the rows. Most of the currant 
plantations are between orchard rows, the 
partial shade of the trees being considered 
desirable. It is claimed that currants do best 
when interplanted with cherry, apricot, apple, 
and pear, not so well when associated with 
plum and peach, and the almond is least de- 
sirable — possibly because the almond is often 
given less cultivation than the pulpy fruits or 
is grown on lighter, drier soils. The culti- 
vation is such as is usually given to the or- 
chard, except that in heavy soil the plow is 
not allowed to come near the cuttings the first 
season for fear of tearing them from their 
rooting. After the first year the plow is used 
in the winter and the cultivator in summer. 

Currants will repay generous applica- 
tions of well-rotted manure, and relish 
sufficient moisture in the soil. Where this 
can not be had from rainfall, and retained 
by cultivation and mulching, irrigation must 
be resorted to. 

Pruning. — If the currant is to be grown 
in tree form, the branches from the upper 
buds of the cutting should be shortened in 
at the end of the first summer, and branches 
growing horizontally should be removed. 
The weaker shoots in the head are thinned 
out, but not so much as to leave the top 
too open. If the plant is to grow as a 
bush, the only winter pruning will consist 
in removing dead wood, and thinning the 
new shoots as may seem desirable. Summer 
pinching of the new growth is desirable, as 
it causes the fruit to set closely and tends 
to a thick growth of foliage also, and this 
is necessary, for the bark is liable to sunburn, 
and the best fruit is that which is well 
sheltered by the leaves. Another advantage of 
the bush form is the less likelihood of killing 
by borers, which is imminent when the growth 
depends upon a single stem. 

Bearing. — The currant bears a quantity of 
excellent fruit the second year from the 
cutting, and reaches its fullest product about 
the fifth to the eighth year, when the yield 
in the Haywards region is said to range 



Varieties. — The Cherry currant is the 
prevailing variety, although the old sorts, 
the Red and White Dutch, the Red and 
White Grape, etc., are grown in some local- 
ities, and Fay's Prolific is approved by 
some growers. Pomona is one of the best 
of the newer red varieties and the old Fertile 
de Palluau is reported as doing better than 
others in hot, interior situations. Black cur- 
rants are but little grown, the market demand 
for them being very light. 

THE GOOSEBERRY. 

The gooseberry is another fruit with 
somewhat circumscribed area in this State. 
In localities which favor it, the fruit is often 
found very profitable, but the demand does 
not warrant any great increase of product. 
Though the gooseberry thrives in some situa- 
tions which do not suit the currant, they 
may both be described as averse to the hot 
and dry parts of the State. Still, for home 
use or local sale one can grow certain va- 
rieties of gooseberries successfully, by pro- 
tecting them from too great exposure to the 
sun, and by keeping the soil sufficiently rich 
and moist. The choice of varieties is of the 
greatest importance, as will be mentioned 
presently. At present the chief supplies of 
the gooseberry, as of the currant, are pro- 
duced in the country adjacent to San Fran- 
cisco Bay, though thriving and profitable 
plantations are found elsewhere near the 
coast, here and there in the interior, and at 
considerable elevations on the slope of the 
Sierra Nevada. 

Propagation, Pruning, etc. — The goose- 
berry is grown from cuttings, very much a.s 
already described for the currant. The 
common and the best method is to start the 
cuttings early in the winter, though some 
have succeeded with cuttings taken in the 
spring just as the new growth is starting 
out. Disbudding the lower part of the cut- 
ting if it is desired to train in tree form is 
also practiced with the gooseberry, but a 
smaller percentage of cuttings is found to 
grow after disbudding. 

Gooseberries are planted out and culti- 
vated as already described foe currants, and 



How to Grow Them 



349 



The Raspberry 



the requirements of the plant in soil, mois- 
ture, and manuring are much the same. 

If the gooseberry is to be grown in tree 
form, constant attention to removal of 
suckers is necessary; if in bush form, it 
will only be necessary to remove too old 
wood and to thin out the new shoots. Suck- 
ers should be removed clean from the Ftem, 
so as to eradicate the latent buds, and pulling 
off with a gloved hand, when the suckers 
become woody enough to withstand break- 
ing, is advised. As with the currant, the 
borer is a constant menace to the life of a 
gooseberry plant confined to a single stem. 

Diseases and Pests. — The gooseberry is 
subject to insect depredation both in wood 
and fruit and leaf. The prevailing trouble, 
however, and that which causes the failure 
of so many foreign kinds, is the mildew. To 
escape this nothing is usually done except 
to select varieties not subject to the disease, 
but susceptible varieties can be protected by 
spraying just as the leaves are opening 
and once a month afterwards with potassium 
sulphide half an ounce to the gallon of 
water. This does not stain nor poison the 
fruit. The cooler and moister the air the 
less the mildew. 

Varieties of the Gooseberry. — The 
American varieties. Downing and Houghton's 
Seedling, chiefly the latter, constituted for 
a long time the main varieties marketed in 
San Francisco. Early experiments with col- 
lections of English varieties showed that 
most of them were failures because of mil- 
dew ; still a few of the green and white sorts, 
notably the Whitesmith, have succeeded. The 
proportion of large berries now being mar- 
keted is much greater than formerly, and 
the superior price warrants especial effort 
to produce them. 

A large English variety, which was brought 
to California many years ago by the late 
John W. Dwindle, is now the most widely 
distributed large kind. Its true name was 
lost and it has been propagated under various 
names, viz.. Dwindle, Kelsey, New French ; 
but the name Berkeley, adopted by W. P. 
Hammon, in his wide distribution of it in 
1884, now prevails. It is large and hand- 
some, very prolific, ripens early, and is usually 
free from mildew. 

The Champion, an Oregon seedling 
grown by Seth Le welling, is medium sized, 



very smooth, and thick fleshed, the seeds 
being few and small. They are entirely free 
from mildew, and are clean, bright, and 
beautiful. The Columbus, a New York 
variety, is large and of good quality and 
resists mildew well. 

THE MULBERRY. 

Nearly all varieties of the mulberry have 
been introduced in California and grown 
rapidly and thriftily. Most attention has been 
paid to those varieties most suitable for 
feeding silk-worms, but the fruiting varie- 
ties are also grown here, though the fruit 
has assumed no commercial importance. The 
mulberry is grown readily from cuttings. The 
fruiting varieties thus far chiefly distributed 
are the Downing Everbearing, the Persian, 
the New American, the Russian, and the 
Black Mulberry of Spain. All these bear 
large and desirable fruit. The last named, 
introduced by Felix Gillett, of Nevada City, 
is grown quite widely. The mulberry has a 
long season ; the Persian ripens in Tulare 
the last of May and continuously thereafter 
until October. 

THE RASPBERRY. 

The raspberry is another of the great small 
fruits of California. It thrives over a great area 
of the State ; in fact, there are few situations 
in which it cannot be grown with at least 
a measure ot success if proper attention is 
given to retention of moisture in the surface 
soil, and to giving the plants partial shade 
in the heated valleys, and the cooler ex- 
posures in the foot-hills. The raspberry, 
skillfully pruned and generously fed and cared 
for, is almost a constant bearer, as has already 
been intimated. It is a continual delight in 
the home garden, and always brings a high 
average rate in local and metropolitan mar- 
kets. " 

The culture of the raspberry is in the main 
like that of the blackberry, as already de- 
scribed. The red varieties, which are the 
kinds almost exclusively grown in this State, 
are propagated by suckers and root cut- 
tings like the blackberry, but the. "black 
caps" are propagated by layering the cane 
tips during the growing season. Bending 
down a cane with its branches and covering 
lightly with soil and with a light mulch to 
retain moisture, will result in free rooting of 



Blackberry-Raspberry Hybrids 



350 



California Fruits : 



the buried parts, and one can sometimes 
secure a dozen plants by the layering of a 
single cane with its laterals. 

Ihe pruning of the raspberry is also by 
the renewal system, as advised for the 
blackberry. The topping off of new canes, 
when they reach about three feet in height, 
the subsequent pinching of the laterals which 
are thus forced out, the resolute thinning out 
of sprouts so that but three or four strong 
canes or allowed from one root, the faithful 
repression of all weeds, the maintenance of 
a loose surface layer of the soil by very shal- 
low cultivation, the free application of ma- 
nure and of water unless a continually 
moist condition near the surface can be se- 
cured by cultivation and mulching, — all these 
are among the essentials of cultivation which 
will secure abundant fruit and a long bearing 
season. However, as has already been stated 
with regard to blackberries, there are large 
plantations which pursue a less careful 
system of cultivation especially in the moder- 
ate heat and drouth of the coast district. 

Continuous bearing of the raspberry may 
be secured in those varieties which endure the 
treatment, by cutting out a cane as soon 
as its fruit is gathered, the force of the 
plant being then devoted to the fruiting of a 
second cane, which has previously been 
pinched, and a third shoot is pinched and 
allowed to mature its wood to carry over 
and bear the first crop of the following year. 
A succession of sprouts is gained by pinch- 
ing off the tips of some as soon as they have 
grown up a few inches, which results in the 
growth of later shoots lower on the stems. 
In this way a succession of fruit is obtained. 

The Cuthbert and other strong-growing 
varieties, after the pinching at about three 
feet from the ground, will send out laterals 
which will bear late in the fall, and the same 
cane will bear a crop early in the following 
spring, when its career is ended and it should 
be removed. 

Raspberries are planted about three feet 
apart in rows, and the rows about six feet 
apart. They can be well grown nearer 
together than is required for blackberries. 

Varieties of the Raspberry. — The old 
varieties have been largely replaced by the 
Cuthbert, which is the universally popular and 
mo=t largely-planted sort, having been found 
trustworthy as a grower and as a free and 



constant bearer. The good points of the 
Cuthbert, as representing the experience of 
many California growers, include the fol- 
lowing: A profuse grower, with healthy and 
rich foliage, which protects fruit from sun- 
burn ; an excellent bearer with the fruit well 
distributed through the bush ; the fruit comes 
off easily, and does not crumble, is of fine 
flavor, and ships well. The Herstine, Fran- 
conia. King and Marlboro varieties are grown 
to a limited extent ; and the Barter, a re- 
named variety, the identity of which is un- 
kuQwn, has always retained a degree of 
popularity in the foothill region of Placer 
County, where it first appeared. 

The Black Cap varieties thrive fairly in 
most parts of the State, but do not sell well 
in the markets, and are only grown for 
home use. The golden or yellow raspberries 
are also out of favor because they are shy 
bearers and cut no figure in the California 
product. 

Blackberry-Raspberry Hybrids. — Two 
crosses of California origin have been widely 
distributed and have demonstrated great 
value. 

The Loganberry was originated by Judge 
J. H. Logan, of Santa Cruz, and is a cross 
between the California wild blackberry and 
a red raspberry, thought to be the red Ant- 
werp. It was a chance hybrid developed 
by growing plants from the seed of the 
wild blackberry in 1881. The plant was 
multiplied by its originator and fruited for 
more than ten years, plants being meantime 
given to Mr. James Waters, of Watsonville, 
who grew it on a commercial scale and 
was gratified at the results of his marketing 
of the fruit. The variety was first given to 
the public through the University of Cali- 
fornia in 1893 and has since then been 
propagated by nurserymen and sold in large 
quantities. It has proved a most valuable 
fruit in all parts of California, and has 
commanded the attention of pomologists and 
growers all over the world. The Loganberry 
is an exceedingly robust grower, and has 
unique foliage and cane growth as well as 
fruit. The fruit is strikingly large and 
handsome ; sometimes an inch and a quarter 
long, with the shape of a blackberry, and 
sometimes the hue of a dark red raspberry. 
Its fiavor is unique and peculiar, and gives 
to many tastes suggestions of the combi- 



How to Grow Them 



351 



The Strawberry 



nation of blackberry and raspberry flavors. 
The culture of the Loganberry is like that 
of the dewberry — both in growth and propa- 
gation, rooting readily from cane tips without 
covering, unless many plants are desired 
and then a covered cane will root at each 
joint. 

The Phenomenal is a hybrid which has 
recently been largely grown for a trade 
which prefers a less sharp acid than that of 
the Loganberry. It is one of the notable 
achievements of Mr. Luther Burbank, of 
Santa Rosa, and is a cross between the 
California dewberry and a red raspberry. It 
is exceedingly large, bright crimson, very 
productive and of delicious flavor. The fruit 
comes in large clusters and single berries 
have weighed four to the ounce. In shinpiiig 
it holds shape and color well. 

The Primus is another blackberry-raspbeiry 
hybrid, by Mr. Burbank. It is described as like 
a raspberry in color and shape, though much 
larger, many specimens attaining a length 
of an inch and a half by three-quarters of 
an inch in diameter. It has a larger and 
softer pulp core or center than the black- 
berry, and does not come off the stem like 
a cap as a raspberry, but it is a little more 
tart and is best cooked. It ripens early and 
the plant yields well. It has been widely 
distributed and is popular for home use, 
softness and danger of crushing on the 
core in picking seem to be defects for com- 
mercial growing. It is a little earlier than 
Phenomenal. It has a trailing habit. 

THE STRAWBERRY. 

"Strawberries all the year round" is the 
trite expression by which the charms of 
the California climate are characterized. It 
is no fiction, for in the wonderfully-even 
climate of regions adjacent to the coast and 
in thermal belts in the interior, the straw- 
berry plant blooms and bears almost con- 
tinuously, providing proper moisture condi- 
tions are maintained in the soil. There are, 
however, more or less well-defined crops, 
and "strawberries all the year" does not 
mean a uniform supply ; nor does it mean 
that everywhere in California can one expect 
such constant fruiting. In the very hot 
interior situations the plant rebels against 
the atmospheric conditions of midsummer, 
even though the ground be moist ; and in 



frosty places the plant becomes dormant 
during the wintry portion of the year. The 
conditions of constant growth and bearing 
are moderation of temperature and of atmos- 
pheric and soil moisture throughout the 
year. 

SITUATIONS AND SOILS FOR THE 
STRAWBERRY. 

Bearing in mind the conditions described, 
the strawberry can be grown anywhere in 
California. The native species, as mentioned 
in Chapter V', flourish from the sand of the 
ocean beach to the rich valleys of the Sierra, 
just below the line of perpetual snow, and 
the deduction is that wherever fertile soil 
and sweet water can be brought together in 
California, the strawberry will reward the 
grower. 

Strawberries do well on a variety of 
soils, but as a rule a deep, moist, loamy soil 
will yield best results. Boggy or swampy 
spots should be avoided unless drainage is 
provided, and in this way most excellent 
strawberry ground may sometimes be secured. 
Land which will produce good potatoes or 
corn will generally yield good results with 
strawberries, provided irrigation is furnished. 
In many regions the plants will hardly sur- 
vive the summer without irrigation, and 
everywhere a succession of crops during the 
season depends upon irrigation. It is the 
common experience that light, warm soils 
yield the earliest and highest-flavored berries, 
and heavy soils the later and larger ones ; 
but the size of the berry depends more upon 
the supply of available moisture, and im- 
mense fruit can be produced on loose, open 
soils by free irrigation. And yet the heavier 
soil, both because of its usually superior 
fertility and retention of moisture, is pre- 
ferred for the strawberry. The largest pro- 
ducing regions for the San Francisco market 
in the Santa Clara and Pajaro Valleys are 
comprised mainly of low-lying, heavy valley 
soils, naturally moist and rich, and furnished 
with abundant water supply for irrigation. 
And yet in southern California the chief 
market crops are produced upon light sandy 
loams with water equal to the needs of the 
plants upon such a footing. It must be 
remembered that the strawberry is a shallow- 
rooting plant and must have moisture re- 
tained near the surface. Some loose soils. 



Propagating the Strawberry 



352 



California Fruits : 



especially on uplands, are almost out of the 
question for strawberry growmg. They are 
so leachy that they will not hold moisture 
near the surface though one should stand 
with a hose and almost continually pour it 
on. The plants would also dry up though 
the water were running near by in a ditch. 
To grow strawberries it is often an advantage 
to have a shallow loam over a clay or hard- 
pan, for then the tight layer below will pre- 
vent the escape of the water below the reach 
of the roots. If this canrot be had, the best 
way to grow strawberries on leachy soils for 
home use is to mulch and sprinkle. 

Propag.\tion of the Strawberry. — Seed- 
lings undertaken in the hope of originating 
valuable new varieties ar6 easily grown by 
taking off the outside layer of the choicest 
berries, which carries with it the small, yellow- 
seeds. Wash these from the skin and cover 
them slightly in a sandy soil partially shaded 
and kept moist by sprinkling, or a light 
mulch, and the plants are readily grown. As 
with seedlings of other fruits, few, if any, 
will be found superior to the parent variety. 

Plants for setting out are secured by 
taking off the small growths rooted from 
runners. The strongest plants are those 
nearest to the parent plant. When these are 
allowed to root in small pots plunged into 
the soil, they are called "pot-grown," and 
are superior for planting out, but they are 
not largely used in this State. When plants 
of any variety are desired for new beds or 
fields, a row or more are allowed to send 
out runners during the summer, and these 
are fit for taking up and replanting the 
following winter or spring. 

Laying off Ground for Strawberries. — 
The essentials are deep and thorough pul- 
verization of the soil and grading of the 
surface so that water will flow slowly in the 
ditches. Suggestions as to location of grade 
lines may be found in Chapter XV. The 
inclination which answers for water distribu- 
tion may be very slight ; about two inches 
to the hundred feet answers on the level 
lands of the Pajaro Valley, while in the foot- 
hills much greater fall is made use of, and 
on hillsides rows are located on contour lines 
and not in straight lines. A grade of three 
and three-quarters inches to the hundred 
feet is sometimes used. The triangle de- 



scribed in Chapter XV can be used to fix 
the grades. 

Of course, in grading the field it is often 
necessary to give adjacent blocks opposite 
inclinations to provide for the return of the 
water. On hillsides, where the water is car- 
ried down a ridge to a flume, it is usual to 
keep the water always running away from 
the flume, and only enough is taken out to 
reach to the ends of the small ditches. A 
grade of six inches to the rod is practicable 
for hillside irrigation, but of course only a 
small flow of water is employed. 

There are various ways of laying out 
strawberry beds and plantations. Some give 
flat cultivation and lay out in single rows 
two and a half to three and a half feet 
apart, and in some districts flat culture is 
unquestionably the best. Others lay out in 
double rows about two feet apart, and be- 
tween each pair of rows the soil from the 
center is di^wn up to each side, making a 
low ridge or level a little higher than the 
surface on which the plants are set. This 
levee serves as a walk betwen the beds 
and holds back the water upon the bed 
when irrigated by flooding. Another, and the 
generally-adopted plan, is to have the plants 
in double rows on a slight ridge, while be- 
tween the beds is a furrow which serves as 
a \\ alk and for irrigation. This is accom- 
plished by throwing up the soil with the 
plow into ridges about two feet wide, with 
a double furrow between. On the sides of 
these ridges the plants are set, and often on 
the top of the ridge between the rows of 
strawberries a single row of onions or lettuce, 
or some other vegetable, is grown the first 
year. In irrigation the water is drawn up 
from the trenches by the roots and by capil- 
lary attraction, and the upper surface does 
not bake as it would by flooding if the soil 
be heavy. In hoeing out weeds and in 
fruit gathering, the workman walks in the 
ditch and does not pack the soil around the 
plant by tramping. This is the best method 
for laying out for large plantations. The 
rows are a uniform distance apart across 
the fleld, whether the space between be a 
ridge or a ditch. The method of making 
the beds a little lower than the general sur- 
face of the ground, answers best on free, 
open soils with perfect drainage. Cultiva- 
tion can be reduced by covering the de- 
pressed surface of the bed with mulch of 




The Loganberry (natural size), a California Hybrid. 



How to Grow Them 



353 



Care of the Strawberry 



fine, clean litter, such as chaff, cut straw, 
etc. This retains moisture and gives the 
berry a clean surface to rest on. Such a 
bed is an excellent arrangement for the home 
garden. 

In all arrangements the plants are set 
at less distances in the rows than the rows 
are from each other. Probably the prevail- 
ing distance is one foot betweei: the plants ; 
the range is from eight to eighteen inches 
in the practice ot different growers, and 
determined, of course, largely by the habit 
of the variety. A vine like the Sharpless, 
with a spreading growth and long fruit stems 
needs, perhaps, the sixteen inches which some 
growers give it, while the smaller more com- 
pact, Longworth Prolific, may do well w-ith 
half that distance. 




Strawberry plant showing perfect root system. 

Plantinx Strawberries. — Strawberry 
plants are set out either in spring or fall. 
or at any time in the winter w-hen the ground 
is warm and in good condition. In the 
{irier parts of the State, early fall or winter 
planting is more essential than elsewhere. 
Tf the ground is dry, water should always 
be used in planting. This may be given by 
thorough irrigation of the ground before 
planting, or a little water may be used in 
setting each plant. At planting it is usually 
best to remove all leaves from the plant, 
shorten the roots to three inches or less, 
and be sure the plants do not dry while 
planting progresses. As with handling root- 
ed grape-vines, it is advisable to carry 
around the plants in a vessel which has 
water in it. If the plants have been received 



by mail, they are invigorated by soaking 
in water a few hours before planting. 

In setting the plants, scoop out a little 
excavation with the hand or a trc-vel, spread 
the roots well, cover with fine, soil, being 
sure that the crown of the p'ant shall not 
be below the surface when the soil is level- 
ed. Too many strawberry plants are buriea, 
not planted. Some plant very rapidlv by 
using a dibble to make a hole, into which the 
roots are dropped and soil pressed around 
them by using the dibble alongside; others 
set the plants on the side of the furrow, 
trusting to the next furrow to complete the 
covering. Nearly all ways succeed if the 
plant is not set too deeply and the ground is 
mofjt at planting and not allowed to dry out 
afterwards — providing good, strong plants 
are used. In buying plants it is often poor 
economy to buy the cheapest. 

Stamixate and Pistillate. — In associ- 
ating varieties be sure the pistillate varieties 
are not set by themselves. Some sorts have 
perfect flowers and are self- fertilizing; others 
have only the pistillate element in the bloom 
and must have the staminate adjacent in 
another variety. All the varieties largely 
grown in California have perfect flowers, 
though some pistillate sorts have been locally 
approved. 

Care of the Strawberry Plantation. — 
Herein lies the secret of success with the 
strawberry. Neglect has led to disappoint- 
ment and condemnation of the strawberry, 
where intelligent care would have rendered 
it a constant delight. The cheap elements of 
proper care may be thus enumerated : 

Retention of moisture very near the sur- 
face by careful, shallow cultivation or by 
mulching, persistent destruction of weeds, 
and compensation for summer evaporation 
by frequent irrigation. The plants during 
the bearing season should never be allowed 
to show any leaf-shriveling from drouth. 
Frequencv of irrigation depends upon local 
conditions. Irrigation at intervals of four 
to ten days, according to the soil, are the 
outlines of prevailing practice. 

Constant removal of runners from all 
plants except those it is desired to multiply 
to furnish new plants or to fill the rows. 
Pinching of runners should always accom- 
pany picking or hoeing of weeds, and on the 
srarden bed there can be no excuse for neg- 



Varieties of the Strawberry 



354 



California Fruits "• 



lect in this respect. The young plants 
should be faithfully freed from runners to 
strengthen them up for bearing. 

Though, as already stated, strawberries 
may in some locations be had all winter, 
it is better practice, as a general rule, to 
lay the plants away for a rest. The market 
season in the regions supplying the San 
Francisco market extends from April to 
December, and fruit is continuously shipped 
during that period. At the approach of win 
ter in the last-named month, it is usual to go 
over the beds with a sickle, cutting off the 
old crops of leaves close to the root crown, 
carefully cleaning up the plantation for the 
heavy rains. In most cases it will be a great 
advantagre then to cover over all with a light 
coat of good manure, which the winter rains 
will leach down in to the soils. The result of 
the fall clipping and enriching will be an 
early and strong start of the plant in the 
spring, and a most abundant fruitage. 

Duration of the Plant.xtion. — Straw- 
berry plants well cared for and not visited 
by insect pests, have a long, productive, and 
profitable life in California. Twelve-year-old 
plants are sometimes reported as still pro- 
ducing abundantly. It is customary to count 
from five to eight years as the profitable life 
of a plant, though some growers replant 
after two bearing years. 

Varieties of the Strawberry. — Though 
all new varieties are tried by California 
growers, and quite a number may be con- 
sidered successful either for market or for 
home use, only a very few may be said to be 
widely grown. In the Watsonville district, 
which largely supplies San Francisco, the 
Melinda, which some growers hold to be 
indistinguishable from the Dollar, is chiefly 
grown, with Brandywine as a distant second. 
In the Florin district, near Sacramento, grow- 
ing berries to ship all through the northern 
states of the coast and eastward to Colorado, 
the Dollar is grown almost exclusively, with 
a few Jessies for extra early. In the districts 



near Los Angeles, the Brandywine prevails. 
It is best for shipping and is held to be 
sweeter than at the east and next to it, in 
the commercial fields at the south, is Lady 
Thomson. The Arizona Everbearing is de- 
clining in popularity although still favored 
by amateurs for home use. 

Three old kinds which still hold favor for 
home use and local sale are the Longworth 
Prolific, the Sharpless, and the Monarch of 
the West. The Sharpless is the most widely 
grown ; the Monarch shows better size and 
color in southern California and on the Sierra 
foot-hills than in the regions adjacent to 
San Francisco, although it is still grown 
therein to some extent. The Longworth is 
an old favorite, early, productive, and hardy, 
and its style has become very popular in the 
markets. Wilson's Albany also holds favor. 

It has been demonstrated that varieties 
show marked difference in behavior in differ- 
ent soils and situations. In planting for mar- 
ket or home use the planter will be safe in 
making his largest plantations of the varie- 
ties commended by leading growers and well 
informed nurserymen, and at the same time 
he should put out experimental plants ot 
other varieties. 

The most notable work for new varieties 
in California is being pursued by Albert F. 
Etter of Briceland, Humboldt county. He 
is crossing cultivated varieties with local 
wild species and is thus introducing factors 
not employed hitherto with results which 
promise to be notable. His first named var- 
iety is Rose Ettersburg, which is a cross of a 
third generation Sharpless x Parry with a 
novel type of Fragaria Chiloensis. It has 
remarkable drouth resistance and thrift on 
poor soils. The blossoms are often as large 
as a silver dollar, the berries large, often i 1-2 
inches in diameter, and blush pink in color. 
Single stocks from sets 18 months out meas*- 
ured 22 inches high and over 10 feet in 
circumference. Mr. Etter's work is described 
in detail in the Pacific Rural Press for August 
22 and 29 and September 5 and 19, 1908 and 
is very interesting. 



PART SEVEN: NUTS. 



How to Grow Them 



357 



The Almond 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



NUT GROWING IN CALIFORNIA. 



TWO nuts have risen to large commercial 
importance in California ; The English 
walnut and the almond. (Jther nuts than these, 
except peanuts, have never attained great 
acreage, although several have succeeded and 
promise to become popular. 

The commercial production of almonds and 
walnuts in California during the last thirteen 
vears has been as follows, in tons of 2000 lbs : 



Year Almonds Walnuts 

1895 825 2310 

1896 1605 4115 

1897 2375 3985 

189^ 450 5060 

1899 2320 5530 

1900 2710 5430 

1901 1560 6910 

1902 3270 8520 

1903 3200 5500 

1904 800 7590 

1905 2125 5750 

1906 900 6125 

1907 750 6500 



The walnuts are chiefly grown in Santa 
Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange 
counties in Southern California. The al- 
monds are from interior counties in the cen 
tral regions of the state. Reasons for the 
extreme fluctuations in production will be 
suggested by the discussion of each nut which 
will follow. 

THE ALAIOND. 

The almond has an interesting history 
in California, but it can be outlined in a few 
sentences. The importation of the best 
European varieties began very early, and a 
number of them had been planted in 1853. 
They proved irregular bearers, though the 
trees grew thriftily and in some cases showed 
fruit very soon after planting. The barren 
almond trees were largely grafted into prunes 
or made into firewood and the conclusion 



was reached that to secure regularity and 
abundance in fruiting, locations for almond 
orchards must be sought with the utmost care, 
and that the secret of success lay in the lo- 
cation. After that local seedlings seemed to 
demonstrate their value in regular crops, 
and in characteristics and qualities su- 
perior to foreign kinds. Large planting 
was then undertaken on the ground that the 
choice of soil and situation, and the selection 
of trustworthy varieties, are both factors of 
success, but that possibly more lay in the 
choice of variety than of location. This 
belief led to wide planting in locations now 
seen to be unfitted by reason of frosts and 
losses were again encountered. Now it seems 
to be fully demonstrated that no matter what 
variety is planted, locations for the almond 
must be selected with great care. It has also 
been demonstrated that association of varie- 
ties promotes pollination and satisfactory 
bearing. 

SiTU-\Tioxs .-\ND Soils for the Almond. 
— Almonds are now doing best on the higher 
lands in coast valleys, free from fogs and 
protected from direct winds, but subject to 
tempered breezes : also at various points in 
the interior valleys and foot-hills. The 
general proposition that low lands in small 
valleys should be avoided, and bench or hill- 
side situations preferred, seems to be a safe 
one. Lands directly upon the coast have not 
proved satisfactory. In the large interior 
valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, 
almonds are successfully grown on flat 
valley lands but little lifted above sea level 
and from such plains the chief product comes. 
\\'hy almonds are safer on the low lands of 
a great valley than of a small valley is ex- 
plained by the discussion on page 21. 

The almond prefers a loose, light, warm 
soil, and heavy, poorly-drained soils should 
be avoided. Though they need moisture 
cnougli to make good, thrifty growth they 



How to Grow Them 



358 



Hulling and Bleaching 



will produce good crops on soils that are too 
light or dry to grow satisfactory peaches, 
apricots, nectarines, cherries, or similar pulpy 
fruit. The almond is, however, a very deep- 
rooting tree, and may succeed by reaching 
deeply for moisture rather than by denying 
itself, as some think. The tree certainly 
suffers and is barren from drouth in some 
cases. 

Propagating, Planting, and Pruning.— 
The almond is propagated from seedlings 
grown as described in Chapter VIII, and 
budded as described in Chapter IX. The 
almond root is preferred, though the peach 
answers well. The apricot root should be 
avoided. 

For planting out, trees in dormant bud 
are very successful if given proper care. 
Yearling trees are, on the whole, best, and 
usually those which have made a moderate 
instead of a very large growth are to be 
preferred. The almond makes a compara- 
tively large tree and should have plenty of 
room — not less than twenty-four feet apart 
(though some plantations are made at twenty 
feet), and thirty feet is better. 

Old almond trees are readily worked over 
to other varieties by grafting and by budding 
into new shoots forced out by cutting oft 
large branches. Methods with the peach 
described on page 194 are applicable to the 
almond. 

The pruning of the almond is very simple. 
The tree should be headed low and pruned 
during the first three years, as described in 
Chapter XII, to secure a shapely, strong 
tree. After the third year little pruning is 
required except to thin out objectionable 
branches by winter pruning. There is danger 
of allowing the trees to become too dense. 
Shortening in, as practiced with the peach, 
is sometimes proposed for the almond, for 
the thrift of the tree and the size of the nut, 
but growers have not had courage enough 
to assume the increased cost of production 
which would be involved. 

The cultivation of the almond orchard is 
the same as commended for other fruit trees, 
and as the trees are often planted in naturally 
dry soils, the greater care in cultivation is 
needed to retain sufficient moisture to give 
good size to the nuts. In certain locations, 
of course, irrigation will be necessary, but 



usually a light rainfall will answer if good 
cultivation is given. 

Gathering, Hulling, and Bleaching.— 
Almonds are gathered by spreading canvas 
under the tree and shaking the branches 
separately ; the few nuts remaining can be 
displaced by striking with a light stick. The 
gathering should be done after the hulls have 
burst open, but should not be delayed until 
the nuts are badly discolored. Discoloration 
of the nut depends upon local atmospheric 
conditions and is worst in regions subject to 
moist winds or fogs from the ocean, and 
they often extend considerable distances into 
the interior valleys. On dry plateaux adja- 
cent to the Mojave Desert perfectly bright 
almonds are produced naturally, but at these 
elevations frost injuries are frequent and 
notable. 

Hulling is done with machines devised for 
that purpose. There are several in use and 
recently great capacity and cheapness of oper- 
ation have been attained. 

For the greater part of the almond product 
bleaching is apparently demanded by market 
requirements. Sulphur should not be applied 
until the nut is thoroughly dry, or else the 
fumes will penetrate it, and not only spoil its 
flavor, but will destroy its germinating power. 
The nuts are dried by exposure to sun on 
platforms or trays, and in dewy places should 
be covered during the night. After being 
well dried, sprinkle the nuts sufficiently to 
moisten the shell surface only and apply sul- 
phur fumes. Various home-made contri- 
vances are used for bleaching, such as piling 
up several of the slat-bottom trays one upon 
another, placing around them sides made of 
boards so as to hook together at the corners, 
cover the top with a damp canvas, and burn 
the sulphur in a hole in the ground below 
the bottom tray. 

Webster Treat, formerly a large grower 
of almonds, describes his sulphuring-house 
for almonds : 

My bleaching-liouse is about twenty-five feet by 
eight feet, and I generally put in about four thou- 
sand pounds of almonds and e,\pose them to sulphur 
fumes for three or four hours. The house is board- 
ed with tongue and groove flooring, inside and out, 
and roofed witli well-laid shingles, and has a flue 
about two feet hi-jh on the apex, to help draft the 
sulphur smoke up. The floor is of one-by-three- 
inch stuff, set up edgewise, three-eighths of an inch 
apart, or just wid" enough to admit the fumes from 
the sulphur burning below, and narrow enough 



How to Grow Them 



359 



Varieties mostly grown 



to prevent the nuts from falling through. The floor 
is about two and one-half feet above the ground, 
and the lower space is boarded up with tongue and 
groove also and fitted with small doors every five 
feet, so that the sulphur pans can be placed under- 
neath the floor. 

Sulphur fumes are applied until the nut.s 
are of a light yellowish color ; the proper 
shade is to be learned by securing approved 
samples from some trustworthy dealer. 

Pollination and Late Blooming. — The 
advantage of cross pollination between dif- 
ferent varieties and the surer bearing of late 
blooming varieties are related subjects which 
are worthy of close attention. Mr. J. P. 
Dargitz of Acampo, San Joaquin, a large 
grower, has pointed out that, according to 
his observation as a rule all the paper-shells 
are deficient in pollen, and will not bear well 
if planted alone and he concludes that the 
only two which warrant planting in his sec- 
tion are the Nonpareil and the Ne Plus Ultra. 
The latter is not a very good nut, and needs 
much more moisture than the other. The 
Nonpareil will give good results if planted 
with some other variety as pollenizer. It is 
one of the very best of nuts and is well worth 
planting. Mr. Dargitz regards the Texas 
Prolific the very best pollenizer, and when 
planted in alternate rows with the Nonpareil 
will cause it to set fruit freely in spite of the 
fact that the Nonpareil begins blooming two 
weeks earlier than the Texas but still has 
bloom to catch the Texas pollen when it is 
ready. 

This late blooming of the Texas places it 
in the same class for surety with Drake's 
Seedling. Both nuts are medium soft shell 
and small but are being largely chosen be- 
cause of sure bearing and large product. As 
to the relative return per sack, Mr. Dargitz 
says: 

The Nonpareil at 14 cents per pound, the Drake 
Seedling at 1 1 cents per pound, and the Te.xas Pro- 
lific at 10 cents per pound, will each bring about 
$10.50 per standard sack; the IXL at 13 cents per 
pound about $9 per sack, and the Ne Plus Ultra at 
12 cents per poun<l about $8.50 per sack. 

Varieties of the Almond. — Almonds 
should bear well every year, hull easily, have 
clean, thin, soft shells, and a smooth, bright, 
and plump kernel. Almonds with long, single 
kernels are preferred in general to those 
which have double ones. These are the 
characters which ruled in the selection of new 



varieties by the pioneer propagator of new 
almonds, A. T. Hatch, formerly of Suisun. 
In 1878 Mr. Hatch planted out about two 
thousand five hundred seedling almond trees 
grown from bitter almond seed. He after- 
ward budded all the seedlings but about three 
hundred, which were left to bearing age 
unbudded. The fruit of these seedlings was 
of all degrees of excellence. A few of the 
best of thein were selected for propagation 
and naming, and they constitute the chief 
part of the acreage which is now bearing 
almonds, but other late bloomers and surer 
bearers are being preferred in current plant- 
ing. 

Excellent seedling almonds have also been 
produced by other growers. The following 
list includes the sorts most widely grown : 

IXL. — Tree a sturdy, rather upright grower, 
with large leaves ; nuts large with, as a nile, single 
kernels; hulls easily, no machine being needed, nor 
is any bleaching necessary; shell soft, but perfect; 
largely discarded for shy bearing. 

Ne Plus Ultra. — Large and very long in shape ; 
heavy and regular bearer; soft shell; hull free. 

Nonpareil. — First called Extra. Of a weeping 
style of growth ; smaller foliage than the IXL, 
but still forms a beautiful tree. An extraordinarily 
heavy and regular bearer, with very thin shell, of 
the Paper Shell type. 

Lcii'cllings ProMc. — Originated with the late Mr. 
John Lewelling; "tree a great bearer; of drooping 
habit ; nut large and good ; soft shell ; hull free." — 
Leonard Coates. 

Harriott's Seedling (or Commercial). — From 
Visalia. where it is a surer cropper than elsewhere ; 
shell softer than the Languedoc ; nut long, of pe- 
culiar shape, quite large ; kernel sweet. 

King's Soft Shell. — Originated in San Jose; shell 
very thin and soft ; regular and abundant bearer. 

Princess. — The finest of the Paper Shell class; 
long. oval, kernel large, white and sweet- 

Languedoc. — Nut large ; shell thin ; kernel sweet ; 
condemned for irregular bearing. 

Paper Shell. — Medium size; shell very tender, 
easily broken between the finger and thumb; kernel 
large, white and sweet. 

Drake's Seedling. — Originated with Mr. Drake, of 
Suisun. of the Languedoc class; very prolific, and a 
regular. ;ibundant bearer. The latest blooming vari- 
ety. 

Golden .S"/ii/<-.- Originated by Webster Treat. A 
large soft-shell, somewhat longer than the Langue- 
doc. with a full, smooth-skinned meat ; parts from 
the hull readily. .-\n early variety, but in less 
favor than forniorlx'. 



Miscellaneous Nuts 



360 



California Fruits : 



j: L:.'ai frohfic. — Brouglu trom Texas by Robert 
Williamson, of W. R. Strong & Co., of Sacramento, 
about i8gi, as a seedling originated at Dallas, and 
the only almond which would bear there. Planted 
at Acampo by Robert Adams, who had charge of the 
':ompany's nurseries at that place; fully discussed 
by J. P. Dargitz, of Acampo, and described by the 
introducer as resembling Languedoc in tree and nut, 
but with softer shell, which is filled with very sweet 
kernel. Mr. Dargitz reports liftcen years without 
failure to bear and usually prolifically. 

Jordan Almond. — This long, hard-shelled almond, 
notable because of its long, slim kernel for "salted 
almonds" and imported at high cost for that pur 
pose, has been introduced both through government 
distribution and private enterprise, notably that of 
the late John Rock, of the California Nursery Co.. 
of Nilcs. Too little has yet been seen to determmc 
the value of the variety in local production. 



THE CHESTNUT. 

The chestnut is not yet produced in large 
amount in Cahfornia, and certain quantities 
of the nuts are annually imported, the Ameri- 
can, Italian, or Spanish and Japanese all be- 
ing found in the San t rancisco markets. Ot 
chestnuts grown in California, the Italian 
predominates, and the Japanese is more com- 
mon than the American, which is slow of 
growth and late in fruiting, as compared with 
the other kinds. Judging the success of the 
Italian, it may be said that a large area 
of California is well suited for the growth 
of the chestnut, as there are bearing trees 
in nearly all parts of the State. The chest- 
nut succeeds on heavy, clayey soil, even if it 
be quite rocky. 

Chestnut trees are readily grown from the 
seed, and thus grown come into bearing in 
from six to eight years, though the Japanese 
sometimes bears sooner. The growth of 
chestnuts from the seed is described in Chap- 
ter VIII. In growing from seed of the im- 
proved varieties, there is a tendency toward 
reversion, and budding and grafting may 
be resorted to ; and can be done by the 
methods described in the chapter on the fig. 
The chestnut can also be grafted with the 
ordinairy cleft graft. Buds or scions should 
be taken from trees which are fruiting satis- 
factorily, and in this way seedlings which 
have a tendency to bear empty burs can be 
turned to good account. Chestnuts can be 
grown in the nursery until several years old, 
providing they are lifted at the end of the 
first year,: I the taproot cttt ofif, and the trees 
reset, giving them rather more room than 



du-Mig their first year's growth. In perma- 
nent plantings the trees should have plenty 
of room, as they ultimately attain great size. 
Trees at Grass Valley, Nevada County, when 
about twenty years old, fifteen inches in diam- 
eter of trunk, and forty feet high, and re- 
ported to bear a barrel of nuts to the tree 
regularly. Felix Gillet, of Nevada City, has 
for many years made a specialty of propa- 
gating a large collection of the improved 
French varieties of the chestnut, known as 
Marrons, which were distributed to some 
extent. The chestnut chiefly grown is the 
Italian but it has not attained any consider- 
able product as yet. The chestnut, aside 
from its desirability as an orchard tree, can 
be commended as a tree for hillsides or a 
shade tree for waysides or pastures, and 
should be more widely planted in California. 
The chief product is in the foothill district 
east of the San Joaquin valley. 

THE FILBERT. 

The best English cob-nuts have been quite 
widely tried in California without successful 
results. Improved Spanish and French va- 
rieties of the filbert were early introduced by 
Felix Gillet, of Nevada City, and have been 
favorably reported by him as to growth and 
bearing. A few other growers in foot-hill 
situations have reported success, but as a 
rule disappointment has attended ventures 
with the filbert. The most favorable regions 
tor farther experiment are apparently the 
north slopes of the Coast Range, and other 
cooler and moister situations, as well as at 
an elevation on the Sierra foot-hills, where 
Mr. Gillet found them satisfactory. 

THE PEANUT. 

During the last few years the peanut prod- 
uct of California has notably increased, and 
the crop is a popular one in some parts of the 
San Joaquin Valley and southern California. 
The nuts are considerably grown between the 
rows in young orchards and vineyards, as 
well as upon ground wholly given to them. 
The following explicit directions are given 
by R. M. Hargrave, a grower in Orange 
County. Some slight modifications in prac- 
tice may be needed, according to locality, as, 
for example, in time of planting, which is 
usually a little earlier than the date given : 



How to Grow Them 



361 



The English Walnut 



Planting. — The best time to plant peanuts is about 
the middle of May, say loth to isth, in rows about 
three to four feet apart and sixteen to twenty 
inches the other way, and not cover too deep — 
three or four inches. Peanuts planted the middle 
of May ripen evenly and are of uniform size. Very 
early peanuts ripen unevenly, and the first nuts that 
set on get so ripe they turn to a pink color, and if 
the land is a little sandy the stems get soft, losf 
their strength, and will not lift the nuts from tlie 
ground. 

It takes about thirty pounds of the California or 
White Virginia, and fifty pounds of the Tennessee 
Reds to plant an acre. Tennessee peanuts can be 
planted much closer in the rows. The California 
peanut is the best to plant, as it yields three or 
four times as much as the Tennessee Reds do, and 
has more ready sale. 

The Quality of Land. — Peanuts require a rich, 
sandy soil loam, tliat is known as upland. Da. up 
land gives the nuts a straw color, and tliey ar> 
not as good probably as those raised on higher land. 
They require no irrigation, except on very sandy 
land, where some have found it profitable; but, a.= 
a usual thing, when irrigated the groiuid is liabic 
to get hard, making the nuts crooked, ill-shaped, and 
many times coloring them. 

Cultivation. — Peanuts should be cultivated about 
the same as corn, not allowing any weeds to grow 
in them, keeping the ground loose and mellow, and 
when the spikes begin to form, they should not be 
disturbed. If they are, it causes the nuts to blight 
or not fill out. The blooms do not require to be 
covered. 

Harvesting. — Peanuts should he h-irvsted when 
ripe, and not allowed to stand too long, in hopes 
that the last ones set out will fill out and ripen, as 
you lose more than you gain. The little ones spoil 
the sale of the crop, and many are left in the 
ground that get over-ripe. Peanuts should be cut 
or plowed out and thrown into windrows, nuts down, 
and let lie a week or ten days, and then sacked, as 
the best nuts are cured in that way, and they do not 
mold so badly, and cure a better color. They must 
not be allowed to get wet. The tops are good feed 
if stored away in a shed for winter use. All kinds 
of stock like them, and small nuts can be left on the 
vines. They make the best f hicken feed. An av- 
erage yield is about twenty-five to thirty sacks to 
the acre, forty pounds to a sack, but many have 
raised fifty sacks, with extra care and good land well 
adapted to peanuts. 

THE PECAN. 

The pecan, by rapid growth, early fruiting, 
and general thrift, seem.s to be the member 
of the hickory family best fitted for California 
conditions. A tree grown from a nut planted 
by J. R. Wolfskin, "on Putah Creek, in 1878 
was. when twenty-five years old, over fifty 
feet high, with a trunk twelve inches in 
diameter, growing luxuriantly and bearing 
freelv. Still older trees, also verv satisfac- 



tory in growth and bearing, are to be seen 
at Chico and Visalia. The pecan, though 
grown for thirty years by dif?erent parties 
around the bay of San Francisco, either does 
not bear or keeps the nuts hanging on until 
sometimes they sprout on the tree. The 
wider extrenies in temperature or in htimidity 
in the interior seem to teach the tree better 
habits of growth, and rest and moist lowlands 
in the great valleys seem best for pecan plant- 
ing. As yet, California has no marketable 
product of pecans but the total number of 
trees in ♦^he state is insignificant. 

Pecan trees grow readily from the nuts if 
these are fresh. Planters should secure nuts 
of selected varieties (for there is a great 
difference in size and quality) direct from 
growers in the southern States, and plant 
as soon as received, in the earlv winter. 01 
if conditions are not favorable for planting, 
the nuts should be stored as described in 
Chapter VIII. Nuts planted in good nursery 
ground in rows as there suggested, and cov- 
ered about two inches or a little deeper in 
dry, loose soil, and then mulched to retain 
moisture, will germinate freely. The trees 
should be transplanted to permanent place 
at the end of the first year and then usually 
the taproot can be retained, as some growers 
deem very desirable ; if the trees are to be 
put in permanent place later they should be 
transplanted in the nursery and the taproot 
cut of¥. The nuts can, of course, be planted 
at once m permanent place if one will take 
the extra trouble necessary to properly care 
for thern. 

THE PISTACHIO. 

The pistachio nut (Pisfachia vera) was 
introduced u number of years ago but no 
results have beei. reported. The species upon 
its own root makes a low shrub and is slow 
'if growth. We have also imported the 
Pistachia terebinthus, from which is derived 
the "chio turpentine," the stock the true 
pistachio is grafted upon in Europe and which 
is growing thriftily at several points! in the 
State. The pistachio needs more time to de- 
clare its California career. 

THE ENGLISH OR PERSIAN WALNUT. 

The nut which is signified in California 
wlicn the term walnut is used, is the English 



Budding the Walnut 



362 



California Fruits : 



walnut or Madeira nut (Juglans regia) and 
its many varieties. This tree makes a grand 
growth in California. Specimens are seen 
here and there, which, at about twenty year.'; 
of age are from fifty to sixty feet in height, 
with a spread of branches of forty to sixty 
feet, and in some cases bearing four to eight 
hundred pounds of nuts. Much larger and 
older trees can be found in the coast and in- 
terior valleys of central California where the 
nut was first planted, although, as has already 
been stated, the nut has thus far been pro- 
duced in large quantities only in regions ad- 
jacent to the coast in southern California. 
The equable temperature and moisture of the 
southern coast seems to specially favor the 
nut, but it must not be inferred that success 
can only be attained in such situations. A 
number of French varieties, which have been 
widely enough distributed to test their growth, 
have been found to thrive in many situations 
where the old Los Angeles variety is a fail- 
ure, and there is at present quite a disposi- 
tion to larger plantings of the walnut in all 
California valleys, either as a sole occupant of 
the land or as border trees around fruit or- 
chards. At the South the walnut area has 
largely increased in those situations where the 
tree shows most satisfactory bearing qualities, 
and newer varieties of California origin, like 
the Improved Soft Shell, constitute most of 
the present area. In all untried places, or 
in all places where the old Los Angeles Wal- 
nut has failed, trial should be made of the 
hardy French varieties, which will be de- 
scribed farther on. Recently considerable 
planting has been done in the coast and in- 
terior valleys and foot-hills of central Cali- 
fornia upon the quite fully demonstrated suc- 
cess of these varieties. It is, however, very 
desirable to secure satisfactory depth and 
retentiveness, without excess of water, in the 
soil. The walnut abhors drouth as well as 
standing water. 

Soils for the Walnut. — The walnut 
makes most rapid growth upon a deep, rich, 
moist, loamy soil, and shows its appreciation 
of good things of the earth as do other fruit 
trees, and yet it attains satisfactory size and 
bearing in less favorable situations. Thriv- 
ing trees can be found in the clays and de- 
composed granite soils of the foot-hills, as 
well as in the valley silts and loams. Ade- 
quate moisture must, however, be had, and 



the walnut can not be commended for dry, 
neglected places nor for soils which over- 
lie leachy subsoils described on page 34. 

Propagation. — The walnut tree grows 
readily from nuts treated as described in 
Chapter VIII. In the main the use of seed- 
lings has hitherto prevailed, and the nut has 
been looked upon as coming sufficiently true 
from seed. Recently, however, this has 
changed rapidly, and grafting to secure a 
high, uniform grade and to secure fruitful- 
ness in spite of the blight is commanding wide 
attention. 

Excellent results have been obtained 
by using the California black walnut 
as a stock for the English walnut, and in that 
case budding or grafting must be resorted 
to. Many instances of the success of the 
English walnut on our native stock might 
be cited, but the most notable tree known to 
the writer is to be seen on the grounds of 
John R. Wolfskin, on Putah Creek, in So- 
lano County. He put in a bud in 1875 and 
the tree has reached immense size and large 
product. Since then many large native black 
walnuts have been top-grafted with the En- 
glish walnut with notable success, not only in 
orchards, but along highways where the native 
black walnut has been planted for shade and 
ornament. 

Budding the Walnut. — In working on 
the native California seedling stocks, Mr. 
Clowes, of Stockton, buds by the common 
method, removing the wood from the inside 
of the plate of bark, as advised for the or- 
ange. Twig buds as used with the olive are 
also successful, and ring budding works well 
on shoots of a year's growth, which have at 
least attained the thickness of the middle fin- 
ger. Mr. Gillet advises that the buds should 
be set at the base of these shoots where the 
wood is perfectly round. The bandage 
should pass above and below the bud so that 
the bark under it may be pressed down close 
upon the stock, and this is more surely gained 
by shaving off the base of the leaf stem, 
below the bud, about to the point where it 
would separate' when the leaf naturally falls 
of. 

Mr. A. W. Keith, of Selnia, has hit upon 
a very interesting method of preparing wal- 
nut buds. In taking a fresh bud from the 
new growth of the walnut he found the 



How to Grow Them 



363 



Grafting the Walnut 



large leaf stem a serious impediment in firmly 
placing a shield bud upon the cambium of 
the stock and binding it there. Shaving it 
away with a knife left too much exposed 
tissue. If the leaf stem would drop ofif as 
it does when mature and leave a healed-over 
scar, the result would be a flat surface with 
only the bud protruding, and this could be 
easily bound in place so as to exclude the 
air. He tried cutting off the compound leaf, 
leaving a stub of an inch or so, and was de- 




Grafted walnut in orchard of Mr. J. B. Netf. 

lighted to find that a stub thus left became 
dry and parted from the stem just as a mature 
leaf does in the autumn. By cutting off the 
leaves in this way about August 15, the stubs 
part readily before September i, and then 
he takes off clean, flat buds and uses them 
just as he does in budding the peach, except 
that he leaves no wood behind the bud. 
He takes rather a large shield and puts it 
under the bark of the stock through a "T" 
cut, then wraps well with a strip of cheese 
cloth and waxes over the cloth with ordinary 
grafting wax. The wrapping is applied so as 
to cover inost of the bark slit, evervthing 



beyond being waxed over. The bud is then 
allowed to remain dormant until the follow- 
ing spring. 

?'.'r. f^ennington of V'acaville has been 
very successful in budding b)' cutting buds 
in the regular shield form, about i 1-4 
inches long, cut from branches 1-2 to .3-4 
inch in diameter, so as to get wide buds 
with but little wood left in them. He also 
prefers to have stocks large, and considers 
a stock I 1-2 inches in diameter not too 
large. He uses ordinary budding twine for 
tying, but does not use wax to cover the 
incisions. Says it is best to put off bud- 
ding as late as it is possible to get a good 




Same tree six months later. 

flow of sap, as then the weather is likely 
to be cooler, which is an important factor, 
and the growing season is about finished, 
which will allow the twine to be left in 
place all winter, w-hich he considers advis- 
able. 

Buds are more apt to succeed when pushed 
upward from the cross-cut than downward 
from it. The cuts would then be an inverted 
"T." No preparation of the budding wood is 
made, except that mature buds are taken. 
About go per cent of the buds placed are 
said to grow. 

Grafting the Walnut. — Grafting into 
black walnut seedling root can also be well 
done by a triangular cut into the edge of the 



Working over old trees 



364 



California Frnits : 



root stump, as described for grafting into \vhen the s[)lit is not made through the pith, 
grape-vine stumps. In the case of the wahiut, but at one side : the scions should be whit- 
close binding with a wax band is desirable. tied so as to show as little pith as pos- 




Yearling seedling Black Walnuts grown on moist, subirrigated land. 



Large walnut trees can be worked over 
either by budding or grafting. If by bud- 
ding, the large limbs are cut back in the 
winter, and in autumn following, buds are 
put in, as just described, on as many of 
the new shoots as may be desired. 

In grafting, the common cleft graft is 
used with a degree of success jiarticularly 



sible. This is done by cutting down to a 
point at one side and not in the center 
of the .scion. Care should be taken to 
cover all exposed surfaces. 

Grafting over is desirable either for sub- 
stituting a better variety of English walnut, 
or for working over a California black wal- 
nut into an Euplish variety, and as much 



How to Grow Them 



365 



Side Grafts 



attention is now being paid to blight resistant, 
interest is sharpened in grafting methods. 
Mr. J. B. Neff, of Anaheim, who has look- 
ed into the subject deeply and worked over 
many old trees gives the following practi- 
cal suggestions on this work : 




Walnut grafting by modified cleft graft. 



If the trees are from three to five inches in di- 
ameter they may be cut off at about four feet above 
the ground and below the branches, then four or 
five scions may be placed in one stock, or three 
of- four of the branches may be cut back to within 
ID to 24 inches of the trunk and two to three scions 
placed in each. All the other branches should be 
removed from the trunk. 

Old trees of from 12 to 20 years should have the 
branches cut at places where they are from three 
to six inches in diameter, and from five to eight 
stubs left, which will be from three to six feet in 
length and should have as many as six scions in the 
large stubs, the other branches being removed be- 
fore the scions are put in place. 

In sawing large brandies it is necessary to make 
two cuts, the first being some distance above or out- 
side the final cut, to prevent splitting the stub, or 
the trunk, when the severed part falls. 

The scions should always be of solid, mature wood, 
that is, with as small pith as can be had readily, 
and must have good living buds. Each scion should 
be about one-quarter inch in diameter and have at 
least two buds. The growth having buds close to- 
gether is best, as shorter scions can be used. 

To receive the scions use a heavy butcher knife 
and mallet to split the stubs, placing the knife across 



the stub as if a chip one-half to tive-eighths-inch 
thick was to be taken off. Then depress the handle 
of the knife to an angle of 30 to 45 degrees and 
split the edge down to 2% to 3 inches, allowing the 
knife to reach the farther side of the stub, but not 
making the split entirely across the stub. Open the 
cleft with an iron wedge Y2 to %-inch wide and 
thickest on one edge, placing the thickest edge to- 
ward the outside. 

Trim the cleft in the stub with a sharp knife 
so it will be smooth. Then cut the scion so as to fit 
perfectly and place it so the inner bark (the cambium 
layer) of both will be on the same line, or at least 
will cross twice, then remove the wedge and put 
hot wa.x over all the cuts on both stock and scion 
at once. 

The scions should be examined frequently and 
any excessive flow of sap wiped off, and the stub 
re-covered with wax as soon as dry. Excessive flow 
of sap for several weeks will cause the loss of the 
scions as the callus cannot form in water. This may 
be controlled by boring one-fourth inch holes in the 
body of the tree near the ground. Three or four 




Side graft made with a saw-cut. 

Enlargement can be prevented by slitting the bark below it. 

holes four inches deep will be sufficient to control 
the flow of the largest trees. No damage is done 
to the body of the tree as the holes soon grow over. 

The last two wax formulas on page 67 
are largely used in walnut grafting. For 
grafting in the stems of seedlings or in the 
smaller branches of young trees a side 
graft as described on page 69 is successfully 
used as are also several styles of cleft 
grafting. One which is used by Mr. R. 
Wiltz and others at San Jose consists in 
splitting a short stub of- a sinall branch 
which has been cut about four inches from 
its attachment to a larger branch or stem. 



Planting Walnut Orchards 



366 



California Fruits 



In this case the split can only extend to 
the closely knit wood in the crotch and the 
scion is pushed down strongly to the bot- 
tom of such a split and it is held tightly. 
The two pieces of the deep split are not 
cut away but are allowed to protect the 
short scion which is between them and if 
buds start on these pieces they are allowed to 
grow a little to keep the stock from dying 



which is usually done the fourth or fifth 
year. Two-year-old trees are generally pre- 
ferred, but walnut trees of many times that 
age can be successfully transplanted if the 
work is carefully done. Walnut trees are 
usually set forty feet in squares, though 
some give the large-growing varieties fifty 
feet. Planting in hexagonals at forty-five 
feet distance gives very satisfactory re- 




Split Grafting the Walnut by Mr. Geo. Payne, of Santa Clzra. 



back. When the scion starts well they are 
removed. 

Planting Walnut Orchards. — There is 
much difference in practice in planting out 
walnut trees in permanent place. Some 
advocate the use of trees two or three years 
from the seed, getting as much of the tap- 
root as possible ; others allow the tree to re- 
main in nursery until it throws out laterals, 



suits. Some growers plant in squares at 
thirty feet distance, intending to remove al- 
ternate trees as they crowd each other, first 
cutting back, for a time, the trees which 
are finally to be removed. 

Intercultures with the Walnuts. — In 
the southern walnut regions it is common to 
grew beans, squashes, etc., between the rows 
of trees until the latter reach bearing age ; 



How to Grow Them 



367 



Harvesting Walnuts 



root crops which attract gophers should 
be avoided. Inter-planting of smaller, early- 
fruiting trees is also practiced to a con- 
siderable extent. 

Pruning the Walnut. — The walnut is 
usually headed higher than ordinary orchard 
trees, but preference is now given to start- 
ing the first branch at about four feet from 
the ground instead of six feet as formerly. 
All the pruning needed is in shaping the 
tree as described for the fig. Upward trend 
of the branches should be secured, some- 
times by cutting out the shoots which grow 
downward, sometimes by tying them up for 
a time to the central stem until they 
are stiff enough to retain this posi- 
tion. Placing branches on the stem 
according to the principles advanced in 
Chapter XII, should be borne in mind. 
The stem should be protected from sun- 
burn until the foliage accomplishes this. 
Whenever shoots are killed back by sun- 
burn or by frost, they should be cut oft' 
cleanly below the black mark which shows 
how far the injury has extended. If this 
is done, the die-back down the branch is 
usually prevented. 

Bloom and Be^vring of the Walnut. — 
The walnut has its staminate and pistillate 
blooms separate, but both occur on the same 
tree. Successful fruiting depends upon the ap- 
pearance of these two forms of bloom, with- 
out too great interval of time, and although 
there seems to be quite a retention of vital- 
ity, the lack of bearing of some varieties has 
been found to be due to the fact that the 
catkins disappeared too long before the pistil- 
late bloom was sufficiently developed to re- 
ceive the pollen. 

The 'bearing age of the walnut depends 
upon the variety. Some of the French va- 
rieties are very precocious and have borne 
fruit in nursery row at two and three years 
old, but the pistillate blooms were then 
fertilized from catkins growing on older 
trees. The practical bearing age of the 
seedling English walnut in this State may 
be rated at six to eight years, according 
to the variety. Trees grafted with scions 
from bearing trees fruit much sooner. 

Harvesting Walnuts. — Gathering wal- 
nuts is done in different ways ; some gather 
them from the srround at intervals durinp- the 



months of September and October ; others 
use poles and clean the trees at one opera- 
tion ; some go over the ground three times ; 
first, picking up what have fallen ; second, 
picking up what have fallen, and striking 
the limbs lightly to dislodge others which 
are ripest ; third, picking up again and then 
knocking off all that remain on the trees. 
In this way gathering lasts a month or six 
weeks. Walnuts, after gathering, are usually 
treated as described by F. E. Kellogg, of 
Santa Barbara County : 

As fast as gathered the nuts are placed in slat- 
bottomed trays, 6x3 feet, by six inches deep, about 
fifty pounds in a tray, wliere they are allowed to dry 
for three or four days, being thoroughly shaken up 
once or twice a day. If the weather is very hot, 
they should be dried in the shade. When the nuts 
are dry they are passed through an inclined revolv- 
ing grader, making about twelve revolutions per min- 
ute, having a one-inch mesh wire screen, and all that 
fall through this are called "seconds." The lower 
end of the grader dips into a vat of water, thorough- 
ly wetting the nuts and washing them to a certain 
extent — entirely sufficient for paper shells and soft 
shells, and usually enough for hard shells. A sys- 
tem of buckets attached to the drum of the grader 
then elevates the nuts to a chute, which discharges 
them into a large bo.x 4x4x8 feet high, with an in- 
clined slat bottom two and one-half feet above the 
ground. While in this box, they are subjected to 
the fumes of sulphur for twenty to thirty minutes 
for the purpose of improving the color. The sec- 
ond grade walnuts are also put through the washing 
and sulphuring process. The nuts are next 
drawn off from the bleachers into the drying trays, 
piled one on top of the other, to prevent the sun 
from shining directly on the nuts, and remain there 
for ten or twelve hours, until the nuts are thorough- 
ly dried off. The trays are then emptied into a 
hopper, from which the nuts are drawn off into bags 
containing something over one hundred pounds each; 
the bags are securely sewed up and stamped with 
the producer's brand, and the nuts are ready for 
shipment. 

Col. A. S. Heath, of Carpinteria, uses a 
moist bleach and a drier afterward, as fol- 
lows : 

When the nuts leave the rotary washer they are 
entirely free of hulls and clean. They are taken 
to the bleaching boxes, and here subjected to the 
very minimum amount of sulphur necessary, and cold 
steam, being in the bleachers about one hour. From 
the bleachers they are taken to the steam drier. 
In the drier are 100 drawers, each canable of hold- 
ing 40 to SO pounds of walnuts. These drawers 
have wire bottoms to allow the heat to pass through 
them. In the basement beneath the drier Mr. Heath 
has some modern furnaces constructed, and during 
the course of the drying about T30 degrees of heat 
is maintained. The nuts are kept under this heat 
for eight hours. During the drying it is possible to 



Varieties of the Walnut 



368 



California Fruits 



watch the progress by pulling out drawers for m 
spection. 

Dipping Instead of Sulphuring. — Sul- 
phuring often injures the flavor of the kernel 
and dipping is commg into wide use. The 
follov'tis: fornv.ila has been furnished 
to growers by the University Experiment 
Station : 

Six pounds bleaching powder (aiso called chloride 
of lime), twelve pounds sal-soda, fifty gallons water. 
Dissolve the bleaching powder in about four gallons 
of water, stirring till dissolved. Dissolve the sal- 
soda in about four gallons of water. Add one solir- 
tion to the other and stir well ; let the carbonate of 
lime settle to the bottom and draw off the clear liq- 
uor and add water to make a total of fifty gallons. 
Put the nuts in large dipping box or lath crate, 
\mmerse in the fluid, and then add one and one- 
fourth pounds of fifty per cent sulphuric acid and 
agitate by raising and lowering the dipping box. 
The bleach should be reached in five to ten seconds, 
and the nuts are then washed in clear water and put 
out to dry. Of course to employ this process cheap- 
ly, specially contrived dipping appliances are used. 
The same liquor can be used with new batches of 
nuts so long as the proper effect is produced, and 
small additions of acid will prolong the efficiency 
of the liquor. 

Since the foregoing method was published 
certain California courts have decided that 
the process is covered by a patent previously 
issued and controlled by the Anderson-Barn- 
grover Co., of San Jose, who demand a 
royalty for its use. The walnut growers 
employed Prof. Stabler, of the University oi 
Southern California, in Los Angeles, to 
devise a new process in the public interest. 
His early results indicate that by running 
an electric current through a four per cent 
solution of common salt ("four pounds of 
salt to one hundred pounds of water) the 
chlorine is set free from the soda and becomes 
available for bleaching. It is possible also 
that the electric current may exert bleaching 
action of its own. 

Varieties of the Walnut. — Of walnuts of 
California origin there are two classes, which 
are called "hard" and "soft" shell, but the 
accepted commercial product is largely com- 
posed of the soft-shell class. Several va- 
rieties of French walnuts are now being 
widely distributed. An attempt will be made 
to give some of the distinctive points of each 
variety mentioned : 

Common English Walnut: Los Angeles Nut. etc. 
— This is the ordinary English walnut of commerce. 



It was planted at an early day in Los Angeles 
County, but is now largely replaced by the Improved 
Soft S'hell. 

Santa Barbara Soft Shell; Sexton's Soft Shell. — 
Originated by Joseph Sexton, who gives this account 
of its origin and characteristics : "The winter of 
1867 I bought in San Francisco a large sack of Eng- 
lish walnuts. I raised about one thousand trees 
that season, and planted two hundred of them the 
following spring, in orchard form, at Goleta. Sixty 
of them proved to be the soft-shell variety. The 
soft shell is a little later in starting in the 
spring than the common nut, and blooms about ten 
days later. It commences to fruit at six years old 
from the seed, and some have been known to fruit 
af. young as the fourth year. The hard shell com- 
mences to fruit about the ninth year, and bears full 
crops alternate years. The soft shell is not as strong 
a grower as the other walnut; it being so prolific 
retards its growth. It is a superior nut; the kernel 
is white. The shell is thin, rendering them easily 
broken by the hand, at the same time strong enough 
to bear transportation to any part of the United 
States." 

l-ord's Improved Soft Shell — C. \V. Ford, of 
Santa Ana, propagated an "Improved Soft Shell," 
gained by selection from the variety of Joseph Sex- 
ton, which has been largely planted. 

Santa Rosa. — A seedling by Luther Burbank, which 
has been distributed quite widely; ^lut by variation 
in its seedling, its character is somewhat ill-defined 
and the name is applied to several types, some of 
which are less desirable than the one receiving the 
name. 

Proeparturiens. — Introduced in California in 1871, 
by the late Felix Gillet, of Nevada City, and after- 
ward by other parties, and widely distributed. Its 
chief characteristic, as its name indicates, is early 
bearing. It blooins from two to four weeks later 
than the common Los Angeles seedling ; it shows 
both kinds of bloom simultaneously, and has the 
characteristics of ripening its wood well, and is a 
good nut, but it has been little planted recently be- 
cause of its disposition to run to small sizes. 

Mayette. — This variety chiefly constitutes the im- 
ported Grenoble walnuts. It is large, roundiSh, with 
a broad base, on which the nut will sit up ; shell thin 
and white ; kernel full and rich ; a good bearer and 
late bloomer; local Mayette seedlings are being 
named ; one is the "San Jose." liy R. Wiltz of San 
Jose. 

Concord. — S'eedling of Cluster : of the Mayette 
type, grown by Messrs. Westgate and Hutchinson 
of Concord from seedling tree by Felix Gillet. 
Introduced by Mr. Leonard Coates in 1908. 

Franquctte. — This French variety has risen to 
great favor and has been largely planted upon the 
successful experience of Mrs. Emily M. Vrooman. 
of Santa Rosa, and the extensive effort at its dis- 
tribution by the Oregon Nursery Co., of Salem, Ore. 
It is a large, elongate-oval nut with shell rather 
thick and kernel of high quality. It is a late bloomer. 




Paper shell Pecan. Single nut to the left natural si: 



How to Grow Them 



369 



New California Varieties 



Other French Varieties. — Other French varieties 
introduced by Mr. Gillett and others incUide the fol- 
lowing: The Chister, which fruits, as its name in- 
dicates, in long bunches, sometimes as many as fif- 
teen in a bunch ; otherwise the tree resembles the 
common English walnut. The Pari.;ienne is a beau- 
tiful variety, the nut large, broad, and shapely ; the 
tree blooms very late. All the foregoing varieties 
and the Franquette, Serotina, Barthere Mesange. 
Gant and Chaberte, were introduced by Mr. Gillet, 
in 1871. 

Kaghazi. — A variety called Kaghazi was grown and 
propagated for several years by the late James Shinn, 
of Niles. who described it as follows : "Very much 
larger than the ordinary kinds, and thinner shelled. 
The tree is late in putting out leaves and blossoms, 
and is, therefore, especially good for places that 
are in danger of late frosts.'' 

Japanese Walnut; Juglans Sieboldiana — -This 
species, native of the north of Japan, was introduced 
to California about i860, and a tree grown from seed 
planted about that time is growing at the Tower 
House, in Shasta County. Recently the good points of 
the tree have been more widely recognized. The fol- 
lowing excellent description is by Luther Burbank, of 
Santa Rosa : "This species is found growing wild in 
the mountains of northern Japan, and is, without 
doubt, as hardy as an oak. The leaves are of im- 
mense size, and a charming shade of green. The 
nuts, which are produced in extreme abundance, 
grow in clusters of fifteen or twenty, have a shell 
thicker than the English walnut, but not as thick 
as the black walnut, very much resembling pecan 
nuts. The meat is sweet, of the very best quality, 
flavor like butternut, but less oily, and much superior. 
The trees grow with great vigor, assume a vey hand- 
some form, need no pruning, mature early, bear 



young, and are more regular and productive than 
the English walnut." The nut has an exceedingly 
hard shell and does not rate commercially with the 
popular varieties of the English walnut. 

NEW CALIFORNIA VARIETIES. 

Since the walnut blight invaded the com- 
mercial orchards and resisted all remedies 
tried against it, great interest has arisen in 
particular trees which bore well in spite ol 
the disease. As California has such a large 
acreage of seedling trees there was a full 
opportunity for the full manifestation of such 
resistance and a wide field in which to exer- 
cise the art of selection. The result is that 
many trees were found which are profitable 
even when the blight is worst, and such trees 
are being given distinct varietal names. The 
progress of this work should be watched in 
the publications of the University Experi- 
ment Station at Berkeley, for the experts 
at its branch laboratory and trial grounds in 
the walnut region of Southern California, at 
Whittier, Los Angeles county, are largely 
engaged in this work. Individual growers 
are alert at selection within their own or- 
chards and the prospect is that a general 
escape from the blight and the establishment 
in our local pomology of a group of es- 
pecially desiralsle varieties will be ere long 
be attained. 




PART EIGHT: FRUIT PRESERVATION. 



How to Grow Them 



373 



Preserving' Fruits 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

FRUIT CANNING, CRYSTALLIZING, AND DRYING. 



THE preservation of fruit in various ways 
for home use and distant shipment, is one 
of the leading industries of CaHfornia, em- 
ploying a large amount of capital and labor, 
and distributing a vast amount of money 
among our people. These facts can be best 
emphasized by statements of the product 
of 1906, in the leading methods of preserva- 
tion, by canning and drying. 

Canned Fruit Product of 1906 



Table fruits, 2i2-lb. cans, 24 per case.. . 2,60.'i,790 
Pie fruits, 1-gal. cans, 12 per case 503,4:S5 

Tatal..74,621,400 2i2-lb cans, or 3,109,225 



The relative use of different fruits is as 
follows : 



Cases 

Apples 80 850 

Apricots 397,3.n0 

Cherries, black 18.700 

Cherries, white 123,825 

Figs 10.125 

Grapes 98.075 

Nectarines : 5,000 

Pears 565. ( 00 

Peaches, freestone 845.2."'0 

Peaches, clingstone 6.'i9 500 

Plums 193,550 

Quinces 1.50 

Strawberries 22,280 

Raspberries 21.895 

Blackberries 68,675 



THE CANNING INDUSTRY. 

California stands first in the United 
States in the value of canned and dried 
fruits produced and in the amount of money 
as wages paid for labor in fruit canning 
and curing establishments. In point of cap- 
ital invested therein California is credited 
by the United States census office in 1905 
with a t tal of ten and one quarter million 
dollars ; thus standing second only to New 



York, which has ten and one half millions. 
The style and capacity of the establishments 
is characteristically Calif ornian because Cali- 
fornia's ten millions are invested in 184 
concerns, while New York has 565 con- 
cerns ; only a quarter of a million more value 
in three times as many outfits. 

Fruit canning began in California about 
fifty years ago, but during the last three 
decades has attained its greatness, and is still 
promising much wider extension. The proc- 
ess is simple, and yet is attended at every 
point, from the purchase of the fruit to the 
sale of the product, with operations which 
require experience, wisdom, and good judg- 
ment. It will be obviously impossible to 
give in print a guide to the pursuit of such 
an industry. The principles involved in 
the process of commercial canning are, of 
course, the same as rule in the old kitchen 
processes, but to secure uniformity and 
cheapness of product a vast number of 
manipulations and labor-saving appliances 
have been devised. These begin with the 
manufacture of cans and attend the pro- 
duct to the end, and the realization of the 
commercial and uniform production which 
they assure involves the employment of 
large capital and the keenest business ability. 
The canning interest has, therefore, segre- 
gated itself more and more widely from the 
growing interest. Orchard canning on a 
small scale which was once thought feas- 
ible has passed out of sight except as it 
is seen to lie in the foundations of a few of 
the smaller canneries which have been built 
upon it. It seems clear now that as a rule 
the fruit grower's duty to the canning inter- 
est ceases with the production of acceptable 
fruit unless individuals or associations can 
command capital enough to enter the field on 
equal vantage with the large commercia' 
canneries. Capital is flowing toward the busi- 
ness ; the field for the product seems to be 
constantly expanding, and canning centers are 



Crystallized Fruit 



374 



California Fruits 



multiplying throughout the State wherever 
ample supplies of good fruits and vegetables 
are available. 

Varieties for Canning. — The table pre- 
viously given showing the fruits which enter 
in various amounts into the canned product 
gives a general idea of what fruits should 
be planted to minister to the canner's de- 
mand. As to varieties, it is not easy to make 
a general prescription, because the choice 
differs somewhat with different localities. 
It is a good idea for the new. planter to 
consult with owners of adjacent bearing 
orchards and to secure from the nearest 
canneries lists of varieties which are accept- 
able to them. 

CRYSTALLIZED FRUITS. 

Progress is being continually made in the 
production of candied, crystalHzed, or glace 
fruits, but the product is not a large one. 
Special establishments are now doing this 
work in Los Angeles, San Jose, and San 
Francisco. They have processes which are 
the result of considerable experimentation, 
and they do not make them public. To others 
the way lies open to similar experimentation. 
The general theory and an outline of practice 
as given by J. J. Pratt, an experienced proc- 
essor, is as follows : 

The theory is to extract the juice from the fruit, 
and replace it with sugar syrup, which, upon harden- 
ing, preserves the fruit from decay, and at the same 
time retains the natural shape of the fruit. All 
kinds of fruit are capable of being preserved under 
this process. Though the method is very simple, 
there is a certain skill required that is acquired only 
by practise. The several successive steps in the 
process are about as follows : 

First, the same care in selecting and grading the 
fruit should be taken as for canning; that is, the 
fruit should all be of one size, and as near the same 
ripeness as possible. The exact degree of ripeness 
is of great importance, which is at that stage when 
fruit is best for canning; peaches, pears, etc., are 
pared and cut in halves, as for canning; plums, 
cherries, etc., are pitted. The fruit, having thus been 
carefully prepared, is put into a basket, or a bucket 
tvith a perforated bottom, and immersed in boiling 
water. The object of this is to dilute and extract the 
juice of the fruit. The length of time the fruit is 
immersed is the most important part of the process. 
If left too long, it is overcooked, and becomes soft; 
if not immersed long enough, the juice is not suffi- 
ciently extracted, which prevents a perfect absorption 
of the sugar. 

After the fruit has been thus scalded and allowed 
to cool, it can again be assorted as to softness. The 



next step is the syrup, which is made- of white 
sugar and water. The softer the fruit, the heavier 
the syrup required. Ordinarily about seventy de- 
grees. Balling's saccharometer, is about the proper 
weight for the syrup. 

The fruit is then placed in earthen pans, and cov- 
ered with the syrup, where it is left to remain 
about a week. The sugar enters the fruit and dis- 
places what juice remained after the scalding pro- 
cess. 

The fruit now requires careful watching, as fer- 
mentation will soon take place, and when this has 
reached a certain stage, the fruit and syrup are 
heated to a boiling degree, which checks the fer- 
mentation. This heating process should be repeated 
as often as necessary for about six weeks. 

The fruit is then taken out of the syrup, and 
washed in clean water, and it is then ready to 
be either glaced or crystallized, as the operator 
may wish. If glaced, the fruit is dipped in thick 
sugar syrup and left to harden quickly in the open 
air. If it is to be crystallized, dip in the same kind 
of syrup, but allow to cool and harden slowly, thus 
causing the sugar which covers the fruit to crystal- 
lize. The fruit is now ready for bo.xing and ship- 
ping. Fruit thus prepared will keep in any climate 
and stand transportation. 

Thus far the crystallized fruit produced 
in California has sold well. There is a 
considerable importation of French fruit to 
the United States, which may be displaced 
by the California product, and the business 
commends itself to those who have ingenuity, 
patience, and capital enough to enable them 
to experiment and wait for future success. 
The California producer has the advantage of 
an abundance of very fine fruit at a low price, 
but he carries a handicap in the high cost of 
transportation and of labor. 

CALIFORNIA DRIED FRUIT 
INDUSTRY. 

A special census of the fruit-preserving 
. manufactures of the United States in 1905 
shows not only that California stands first 
in the dried fruit industry, but that the 
product (excluding raisins) was in that year 
valued at about fourteen million dollars 
and was over eighty-eight per cent of the 
whole national product. An adjacent tabula- 
tion compiled from the records of the Califor- 
nia State Board of Trade gives interesting 
details of this product for a number of years. 

As suggested on page 26, it is the func- 
tion of the sunshine and dry air of Califor- 
nia not only to bring vigorous growth to 
the tree and vine and carry the fruit of both 
to fullness of size, beauty and quality, but 
to continue its beneficent action until the 



How to Grow Thei 



375 



Cured Fruit Products 



fruit, which is not required b)' the trade in 
fresh ripeness, is given imperishable form, 
in which its beauty, flavors, aromas and 
nutritive quahties remain available to delight 
and nourish mankind until the following 
year's sunshine wins from the earth another 
supply of fresh ripeness. There are many 
parts of the earth where good fruit is 
grown : there are few where conditions pro- 
ducing such fruit continue to accomplish 
its preservation, as they do in California, 



very important in many ways to have it 
clearly understood that, except to an insigni- 
ficant extent, California fruit drying is not 
undertaken to save wastes or to get some- 
thing from fruit which is not suited to 
higher uses. 

Second. As our cured fruits are a 
primary and not a by-product, it becomes 
intelligible why such free investment is 
made in acres of well-made trays ; in tram- 



Product of California Cured Fruits in Tons— 1900 to 190"; 



Year 


Peaches 


Apricots 


.\pples 


Pears 


Plums 


Nec- 
tarines 


Grapes 


Figs 


Prunes 


Raisins 


1900 


17,170 


14,000 


3,150 


7,275 


1,950 


435 


240 


2,000 


87,000 


47,167 


1901 


14,755 


7,776 


3,225 


3,290 


1,725 


317 


180 


3,260 


40,000 


37,125 


1902 


25,210 


18,762 


4,875 


2,625 


1,280 


455 


188 


3,625 


98,5(0 


54,375 


1903 


16,075 


10,500 


1,800 


2,325 


1,435 


317 


205 


3,000 


82,500 


60,000 


1904 


11,500 


8,500 


1,500 


1,750 


1,150 


210 


170 


2,850 


67,500 


37,500 


1905 


17,500 


19,250 


3.250 


1,750 


930 


185 


193 


3,625 


37,500 


43,750 


1906 


11,250 


3,250 


2,750 


3,500 


1,100 


170 


200 


3,375 


90,000 


47,500 


1907 


12,000 


1,500 


1,500 


500 


750 


137 


188 


3,000 


40,000 


60,000 


Total 


125,460 


83,538 


22,050 


23,015 


10,320 


2,226 


1,564 


24,735 


543,000 


387,417 


Average 


15,694 


10,442 


2,756 


2,877 


1,260 


278 


195 


3,092 


67,875 


48,427 



and this climatic endowment of the State 
yields an annual income of something like 
twenty millions of dollars, as the years run. 

In connection with this notable factor of 
our horticultural endowment, certain facts 
of its utilization and its significance should 
be clearly understood not only by those 
who actually employ it in their business, 
but by those who desire to properly appre- 
ciate the industrial resources of the State. 

First. Cured fruits in California are a pri- 
mary and not a secondary or by-product. 
It is true, of course, that curing fruit does, 
to a limited extent, save from loss fruit 
which shippers and canners are not at the 
time paying profitable prices for, and it is 
true also that the recourse to curing frees 
growers from helpless dependence upon fresh 
. fruit buyers. But this does not mean that 
curing is a way of getting something from 
refuse fruit, not suited for other purposes. 
It should be taken as evidence that, for the 
most part, grades of fruit which are cured 
are the same which are also available for 
higher uses when prices are right. It is 



ways and turntables for their movement 
from the shelter of convenient cutting or 
dipping and spreading houses ; in capacious 
apartments and mechanical devices for giving 
the cut fruit its bath in sulphur fumes to 
preserve natural colors and to prevent fer- 
mentation and insect invasion ; in the care- 
fully prepared drying floors ; in well-fitted 
packing houses. Such investment has reach- 
ed millions of dollars in the aggregate, 
and the standing of cured fruits as primary 
products is the justification of such out- 
lay. 

Third. The provision of such equipment 
is not alone evidence of the standing of the 
industry; it constitutes an obligation upon 
producers to put out a product which shall 
be true to its opportunity as a primary 
product, and not merely a makeshift to 
prevent loss or waste. Thirty years ago 
California dried fruit was a makeshift, and 
a disgracefully poor one. As enterprise 
and investment proceeded it was soon seen 
that style and quality alone could requite 
them. Next it was discerned that fruit for 



Sunshine Drying 



376 



California Fruits : 



curing, to command profitable prices, must 
be as good as fruit for any other high pur- 
pose, as has been suggested. It was then 
beHeved that to secure handsome cured fruit 
which should only be relieved of its excess 
of water and still retain color, flavor and 
winning beauty, could only Be produced in 
machine-evaporators with artificial heat, and 
a few years were given to invention, purchase 
and rejection of all such devices except 
as occasional refuges when the California 
climate forgets itself. When the demonstra- 
tion came that with proper pre-treatment 
California sunshine and dry air would pro- 
duce notably fine evaporated fruits without 
houses and furnaces, cured fruits entered 
upon their career as primary products, and 
planting to produce them began. 

Fourth. The obligations upon producers, 
to make their output worthy of such stand- 
ing, extend to the whole process of growing 
and curing. The fruit must be well grown, 
and fruit for curing should have size and 
quality which make it first class for other 
purposes, with the added excellence of 
being somewhat more mature, because it is 
not required to stand hauling and shipment. 
It should, however, be carefully handled to 
escape bruising, because discolorations are 
blemishes. It must be cleanly cut for 
removal of pit or core, because trimness, 
neatness and shapeliness are all essential to 
beauty. Before it reaches exposure to the 
protecting fumes of sulphur, it must be often 
saved from darkening by handling in water, 
when the nature of the fruit is such as to 
require it. It must be carefully and evenly 
spread upon the trays, especially if it be 
a cut fruit, so that no interference can pre- 
vent each piece from reaching its best 
estate. Sulphuring must be adequate, and 
yet not excessive, for sulphuring is a pro- 
tecting and not a resurrecting process ; it is 
not to improve bad fruit, but to keep good 
fruit from becoming bad. The fruit must 
be sufficiently dried and yet not over-dried, 
and during the process must be protected 
from dust by the situation and character of 
the ground used, even if such protection 
costs trouble and outlay. 

Although the sun drying of fruit may be 
a simple process, so many little arts, methods 
and appliances are continually being intro- 



duced to facilitate work or improve the 
product, that one can learn much by visiting 
the different fruit regions during the drying 
season. Such a course is commended to 
growers who contemplate large drying opera- 
tions, for suggestions of great economic 
importance can be secured. The notes of 
practice which can be given in this connec- 
tion must be brief and general. 

Trays for Drying. — The greater part of 
the fruit, including raisins, is placed upon 
trays for exposure to the sun. There is 
great variation in the size of the trays. The 
common small tray is made of one-half-inch 
sugar-pine lumber two feet wide and three 
feet long, the boards forming it being held 
together by nailing to a cleat on each end, 
one by one and a quarter inches, and a lath 
or narrow piece of half-inch stuff is nailed 
over the ends of the boards, thus stiffening 
the tray and aiding to prevent warping. A 
cross-section of such a tray is shown at A. 

A large tray which is used by some grow- 
ers is four feet square, and is made of slats 
three-eighths of an inch thick, and one and a 
half inches wide, the slats being nailed to 
three cross %lats three-eighths of an inch 
thick and three inches wide, and the ends 
nailed to a narrow strip one-half inch thick 
by three-quarters of an inch wide on the 
other side. A cross-section of this tray is 
shown at B. 

Since large drying yards have been sup- 
plied with tramways and trucks for moving 
the fruit instead of hand carriage, larger 
trays, three feet by six or three feet by 
eight, have been largely employed. These 
tramways lead from the cutting sheds to the 
sulphur boxes and thence to various parts 
of the large drying grounds, making it 
possible to handle large amounts of fruit 
at a minimum cost. 

PuoTivCTiNG Fruit from Dew. — In the 
interior there is seldom any deposit of 
dew in the drying season, but occasionally 
there are early rains before the drying sea- 
son is over. The fruit is then protected by 
piling the trays one upon another, in which 
operation the thick cleats serve a good pur- 
pose. In dewy regions the trays are piled 
at night, or cloth or paper is sometimes 
stretched over the fruit, thus reducing the 



How to Grow Them 



377 



Drying Floors 



discoloration resulting from deposits of mois- 
ture upon it. 

Drying Floors. — For the most part the 
trays are laid directly on the ground, but 
sometimes a staging of posts and rails is 
built to support them, about twenty inches 
from the ground. The drying trays are 
sometimes distributed through the orchard 
or vineyard, thus drying the fruit with as 
little carrying as possible. Others clear off 
a large space outside the plantation and 
spread the trays where full sunshine can be 
obtained. Drying spaces should be selected 
at a distance from traveled roads, to prevent 
the deposit of dust on the fruit. 

Spaces used for drying are often idle the 
rest of the year and are weed-covered and 



rains come there is another cutting crop, 
making three crops a year, a ton at each 
cutting. So something is made from the 
space and the dust problem is solved, which 
means clean fruit and better prices. 

Grading. — It is of great advantage in 
drying to have all the fruit on a tray of 
approximately the same size, and grading 
before cutting is advisable. Machines are 
now made which accomplish this very cheaply 
and quickly.* 

Cutting-Sheds. — Shelter of some kind is 
always provided for the fruit-cutters. Some- 
times it is only a temporary bower made of 
poles and beams upon which tree branches 
are spread as a thatch ; sometimes open-side 
sheds with boarded roof, and sometimes a 



&= 



=^ 



Cross-section of drying irays. 



unsightly during the rainy season, or are 
cultivated for grain-hay which loosens the 
surface and deepens the dust. When one 
has water for irrigation it is often practi- 
cable to reduce dust and secure an amount 
of desirable feed or hay by putting the piece 
down in alfalfa. Mr. P. F. Gannon of Yolo 
county proceeded in this way. He lowered 
the tramway tracks to the ground level, and 
turned up a furrow on the sides to hold the 
water from flooding the adjacent ground. 
In the fall, after the fruit-drying was over, 
he flooded the space, which is a little over 
half an acre (125 by 225 feet). Then it was 
disked both ways and leveled and harrowed 
and planted to alfalfa before the rains. The 
land was moist at the time and the seed 
came up and the plants grew more or less 
through the winter. In April he cut the first 
crop. Just before the space is needed for a 
drying yard, make another cutting, about 
June 20, cutting it down close and raking 
it clean. The yard is then ready for the 
trays and fruit. When the drying season is 
over the yard is cleared, and the space then 
is as clean as a clay floor, from being used 
so much. In three weeks the top of the 
ground is green all over, and before the 



finished fruit-house is built, two stories high, 
the lower story opening with large doors 
on the north side, and with a large loft above, 
where the dried fruit can be sweated, packed, 
and stored for sale. The climate is such 
that almost any shelter which suits the taste 
and purse of the producer will answer the 
purpose. 

Sulphuring. — The regulations promulgat- 
ed under the pure food law enacted by Con- 
gress in 1906 established an arbitrary limit 
to the percentage of sulphur compounds in 
evaporated fruits, which was shown by pro- 
ducers to be destructive to their industry, and 
otherwise unwarranted and unreasonable. As 
a result of their protest the enforcement of 
such regulations was indefinitely postponed, 
pending the results of scientific investigation 
which began in 1908. 

From the point of view of the California 
producer it must be held that before the em- 
ployment of the sulphur process, California 
cured fruits were suitable only to the lowest 
culinary uses. They were of undesirable 
color, devoid of natural flavor, offensive by 



*See under "plums and prunes." page 381. 



Sulphuring 



378 



California Fruits 



content of insect life. They had no value 
which would induce production and no dis- 
cernible future. Placing the trays of freshly 
cut fruit in boxes or small "houses," with 
the fumes of burning sulphur, made it pos- 
sible to preserve its natural color and flavor 
during the evaporation of its surplus moisture 
in the clear sunshine and dry air of the 
California summer. It also prevented sour- 



protect the fruit, it facilitates evaporation so 
that about one-half less time is required 
therefor. Not the least important bearing 
of this fact is the feasibility of curing fruits 
in larger pieces. The grand half-peaches, 
half-apricots, half-pears of the California 
cured fruits are the direct result of the sul- 
phur process. Without it the fruit must be 
cut into small sections or ribbons, which in 




jv.iporator with accessory buildings. 



A .suggestive view of a drying outfit of a small fruit farm. The fruit is cut in the shed with can 
in the boxes in the back ground, which have the gallows-like supports for the counter balances of the di 
and forth from shed to sulphur box and thence to dr>ing floor by horse and tram car. 



ing, which with some fruits is otherwise not 
preventable in such open air drying, and it 
protected the fruit from insect attack during 
the drying process. By the use of sulphur 
and by no other agency has it been possible 
to lift the production of cured fruits of cer- 
tain kinds from a low-value hap-hazard by- 
product to a primary product for which 
Californians have planted orchards, con- 
structed packing houses and made a name 
in the world's markets. 

The action of sulphuring is not alone to 



cooking break down into an uninviting mass, 
while, with the sulphuring, it is ordinary 
practice to produce the splendid halves with 
their natural color so preserved that they lie 
in cut glass dishes in suggestive semblance 
to the finest product of the canners, and are 
secured at a fraction of the cost. 

There are various contrivances for the 
application of sulphur fumes to the freshly- 
cut fruit. Some are small for hand carriage 
of trays : some are large and the trays are 
wheeled into them upon trucks. The most 



How to Grow Thei 



379 



Packing- Dried Fruits 



common is a bottomless cabinet about five 
or six feet high, of a width equal to the 
length of the tray and a depth a little more 
than the width of the tray. The cabinet has 
a door the whole width of one side, and on 
the sides within cleats are nailed so that the 
trays of fruit slip in like drawers into a 
bureau. Some push in the trays so that the 
bottom one leaves a little space at the back, 
the next a little space at the front, and so on, 
that the fumes may be forced by the draft 
to pass between the trays back and forward. 
The essentials seem to be open holes or 
dampers in the bottom and top of the cabinet 
so that the fumes from the sulphur burning 
at the bottom may be thoroughly distributed 
through the interior, and then all openings 
are tightly closed. To secure a tight chamber 
the door has its edge felted and the cabinet 
is made of matched lumber. The sulphur is 
usually put on a shovel or iron pot, and it is 
ignited by a hot coal, or a hot iron, or it is 
thrown on paper of which the edges are set 
on fire, or a little alcohol is put on the sulphur 
and lighted, etc. The sulphur is usually 
burned in a pit in the ground under the cabi- 
net. The application of sulphur must be 
watchfully and carefully made, and the ex- 
posure of the fruit should only be long 
enough to accomplish the end desired. The 
exposure required differs with dift'erent fruits, 
and with the same fruits in different condi- 
tions, as must be learned by experience. 

Grading and Cleaning. — After the fruit 
is sufficiently dried (and it is impossible to 
describe how this point may be recognized 
except by the experienced touch), it is gath- 
ered from the trays into large boxes and 
taken to the fruit house. Some growers put 
it into a revolving drum of punctured sheet 
iron, which rubs the pieces together and 
separates it from dust, etc., which falls out 
through the apertures as the drum revolves. 
Others empty the fruit upon a large wire- 
cloth table and pick it over, grading it accord- 
ing to size and color, and at the same time 
the dust and small articles of foreign matter 
fall through the wire cloth. The fanning 
mill for cleaning grain may also be used for 
rapid separation of dirt, leaves, etc., with 
proper arrangement of metal screens. 

Sweating. — All fruit, if stored in mass 
after drying, becomes moist. This action 
should take place before packing. To facili- 



tate it, the fruit is put in piles on the floor 
of the fruit-house and turned occasionally 
with a scoop shovel ; or, if allowed to sweat 
in boxes, the fruit is occasionally poured from 
one box to another. The sweating equalizes 
the moisture throughout the mass. Some 
large producers have sweat-rooms with tight 
walls, which preserve an even temperature. 
No fruit should be packed before ''going 
through the sweat." If this is not done, 
discoloration and injury will result. 

Dipping before Packing. — All fruits ex- 
cept prunes can be packed in good condition 
without dipping, provided the fruit is not 
overdried. Eft'orts should be made to take 
up the fruit when it is just sufficiently cured 
to prevent subsequent fermentation. If taken 
from the trays in the heat of the day 
and covered so that the fruit moth can not 
reach it there is little danger of worms. The 
highest grades of fruit are made in this way. 
If, however, the fruit has been overdried or 
neglected, it can be dipped in boiling water 
to kill eggs of vermin and to make the fruit 
a little more pliable for the press. The dip- 
ping should be done quickly, and the fruit 
allowed to drain and then lie in a dark room, 
carefully covered, for twenty-four hours be- 
fore packing. 

Packing. — To open well, packages of dried 
fruit should be "faced." The many fine arts 
of paper lining, etc., must be learned by 
observation. Flatten some fair specimens of 
the fruit to be packed (and reference is 
especially made to such fruits as apricots, 
peaches, and nectarines) by running them 
through a clothes' wringer or similar pair of 
rollers set to flatten but not crush the fruit. 
Do not face with better fruit than the pack- 
age is to contain. It is a fraud which will 
not in the end be profitable. Lay the flat- 
tened fruit (cup side down) neatly in the 
bottom of the box. Fill the box until it 
reaches the amount the box is to contain, and 
then apply the press until the bottom can be 
nailed on. Invert the box and put on the 
label or brand; the bottom then becomes the 
top. 

Many different kinds of boxes are used. 
A very good size is made of seasoned pine, 
six inches deep by nine inches wide by fifteen 
inches long, inside measurements, and it will 
hold twenty-five pounds of fruit. 



Fig Drying 



380 



California Fruits 



METHODS WITH DIFFERENT FRUITS 

As already intimated, it will be impossible 
to enter minutely into the operations of dry- 
•ingand packing on a commercial scale, or 
even to notice all the small and ingenious 
arts by which the work is facilitated. Any 
one who contemplates production on a large 
scale should personally visit leading regions 
and inform himself by inquiry and observa- 
tion. Such an education will save mistakes, 
which may cost many times more than the 
expense of getting it. California producers 
are usually quite willing to show visitors the 
methods they employ. Though this is the 
better way of proceeding, a few general hints 
will be given of methods with different fruits. 

Apples. — There seems little use of drying 
apples unless a very light-colored, handsome 
product can be turned out. This can be done 
by sulphuring as soon as cut, and sun drying 
in a dry region, or by the use of a machine 
evaporator in regions of greater atmospheric 
humidity. Recently the product has largely 
increased in such large producing regions as 
the Pajaro valley, and new labor saving 
devices are being continually introduced. 

Apricots. — Apricots for drying should be 
fully ripe but not soft enough to be mushy. 
By the use of sulphur and sun heat, an amber- 
colored, semitranslucent fruit is obtained. 
The prevailing method of gathering is to 
shake down the fruit upon sheets, but the 
best product is hand picked. Pit the fruit 
by a clean cut completely around in the su- 
ture; do not cut part way round and then 
tear apart — a clean-cut edge is essential. 
Put on the trays with the skin down, or with 
the cup up, as it is sometimes described; 
sulphur, and then put in the sun. About 
three days of interior-valley sunshine will 
finish the apricots. Apricots will vield on the 
average one pound of dried fruit to five 
pounds of fresh. 

Berries and Cherries. — These fruits are 
only dried in the sun in small quantities for 
local sale, and ordinary farm-house methods 
are employed. 

Figs.* The fruit may be carefully picked 
from the tree so as to secure the whole of the 
stem, when the fruit is fully ripe, as is known 



*A special illustrated account of handling dried fies in Cali- 
fornia is civen in "The Smyrna Fig at Home and Abroad." by 
Georee C. Roeding. Fresno. Cal. 



by the seaming or slight shriveling of the skin. 
In drying the common black fig from large 
trees, however, the fruit is generally gathered 
from the ground, which is cleaned and smooth- 
ed before the crop ripens. In drying black figs 
the fruit is placed on trays and in most cases 
exposed to the sun, but some foot-hill growers 
maintain the advantage of drying in the 
shade. The figs should not be allowed to 
dry hard. When sufficiently cured, put in 
sweat-boxes for several days, and when 
ready to pack dip in boiling salt water, or, 
as is the practice of some producers, dip in 
a thin syrup, boiling hot. In either method 
a good, pliable condition and handsome coloi 
are obtained. In drying white figs many 
sulphur the fruit from fifteen minutes to an 
hour before putting out on the trays. Figs 
which dry slowly have to be turned several 
times during the drying, and those which are 
apt to run juice are placed so that the eye 
is raised a little until the juice is thickened. 
The white figs are also put in sweat-boxes 
and dipped in hot salt water before packing. 
In packing, the figs are often flattened and 
drawn out by the hand. Such manipulation 
gives the fig a lighter and more translucent 
appearance. The time required in drying figs 
is usually from five to eight or ten days, 
according to location and weather. The fruit 
does not cure evenly, and those which are 
finished (as determined by sight and touch — 
to be learned by experience) are picked from 
the trays, and others given more time. 

Pears.- — The dried pear product is increas- 
ing, and, as with apples, only a light-colored 
product is profitable. These are made by 
sulphuring and sun drying, or by the use of 
the machine drier. For sun drying the fruit 
of medium size is halved, the large fruit 
being quartered. 

Peaches. — Peaches are sun dried in much 
the same way as apricots, already described. 
Take the fruit when it is fully ripe, but not 
mushy: cut cleanly all around to extract the 
pit and put on trays cup side up; get into 
the sulphur box as soon as possible after 
cutting. Peaches are dried both peeled and 
unpeeled, but drying without peeling is 
chieflv done. Peeling is done with the small 
paring machines or with a knife. Peeling 
with lye has been generally abandoned be- 
cause of discoloration of the fruit after pack- 
ing, although it can be successfully done by 



How to Grew Them 



381 



Prune Curing 



frequently changing the lye and using ample 
quantities of fresh water for rinsing after 
dipping. 

Clingstone peaches are successfully handled 
with curved knives and spoon-shaped pitters 
in conjunction wit'i ordinary fruit knives. 
Different styles are carried at the general 
stores in the fruit ditricts, and individuals 
differ widely in their preferences. 

The weight of dried peaches which can be 
obtained from a certain weight of fresh fruit, 
depends upon the variety ; some varieties 
yield at least a third more than others, and 
clings yield more than freestones as a rule. 
Dry-fleshed peaches, like the Muir, yield one 
pound dry from four or five pounds fresh, 
while other more juicy fruit may require six 
or seven pounds. 

Nectarines. — Nectarines are handled like 
peaches ; the production of translucent amber 
fruit in the sun depends upon the skilful use 
of sulphur. 

Plums and Prunes. — Our pitted plums, 
which are an acid fruit, are meeting with 
more favor than formerly, and the product 
is increasing. Pitting is done by hand or by 
the use of foot-power "pitters." More rapid 
and capacious machines are being brought out 
by inventors. 

Prunes are one of our greatest and most 
promising products. Several varieties which 
dry sweet with the pit in are used in making 
prunes, as already stated in Chapter XXITI, 
but the prevailing variety is the Prune d'Agen. 

Prunes are gathered by shaking from the 
trees, usually upon sheets spread beneath. 
Several gatherings are made by light shak- 
ings which cause only the ripe specimens to 
fail. 

Prunes are usually graded before drying, 
and various home-made contrivances are em- 
ployed. Some use inclined planes of ad- 
justable slats, the grader being thus available 
for other fruits than prunes ; the large fruit 
rolls along into receptacles at the bottom, 
while the small fruit falls through into other 
receptacles. Other grading devices are made 
with wire screens or riddles of different sizes 
of mesh. Some of them work on the princi- 
ple of a fanning mill, three to four riddles, 
placed above one another, each with a slight 
incline, and a spout on the side where each 
grade drops into a box. Some have a long 
riddle, say twelve feet long, with three differ- 



ent sizes of wire screen on it. This riddle 
is hung upon four ropes with an incline ; the 
prunes are thrown in the higher end, and by 
shaking it they roll down and fall through 
the holes into boxes underneath. The first 
piece of screen should be small, to let only 
stems and dirt through, and no prunes. This 
long hanging screen is also used to grade 
prunes after drying. There are now several 
excellent manufactured fruit graders on sale 
in this State. Their work is very satisfactory, 
and they have largely displaced home-made 
contrivances. 

The next step in the process is dipping 
in lye to thin and crack the skin, which facili- 
tates the escape of moisture in the drying 
process. In the large caldron lye is made with 
one pound of concentrated lye to each twenty 
gallons of water, and kept boiling hot. The 
fruit is put into wire baskets or galvanized 
pails with perforated sides and bottoms, 
and dipped in the boiling lye for about a 
minute, or until the skin has a wrinkled 
appearance, then the basket is plunged into 
clean cold water to rinse off the lye. This 
rinsing water must be frequently changed, 
for it soon becomes very alkaline. Some be- 
gin with a stronger lye solution, one pound 
to ten gallons of water, claiming that a 
very short dip in stronger lye is better than 
long exposure in a weaker solution. After 
this dipping, the prunes arc placed on trays. 
In the sun the prune dries sufficiently in from 
one to two weeks, according to the situation 
and weather. 

A process of puncturing the skin of the 
prunes by causing them to roll over needle 
points has also been employed to some ex- 
tent. There are now manufactured very 
capacious appliances for continuous dipping, 
rinsing, puncturing and spreading on the 
trays so that the fruit is handled in large 
quantities at a minimum cost. In no branch 
of our fruit industry perhaps has there been 
greater advance in labor-saving devices than 
in prune handling. 

When sufficiently dried the prunes arc 
put through the "sweat," which takes from 
several days to two or three weeks, and 
then are ready for grading, finishing, and 
packing. In grading, the prunes are separ- 
ated by the use of a grader, as already 
described, into a number of grades, the 
largest, forty prunes to the pound, and so on, 
fiftv, sixty, etc.. to the smallest, which may 



Raisin Industry 



382 



California Fruits : 



run one hundred or more to the pound. 
Finishing consists in exposing to steam, 
in dipping in clear hot water, or hot sugar 
syrup, or in dipping in boiled juice of ripe 
prunes, or peaches or apples, etc. Although 
there is a great variety of materials used 
for ''glossing" prunes by different producers, 
the prevailing practice is to rely upon hot 
water, to which pure glycerine is added at 
the rate of one pound to twenty gallons. 
Some growers also add a little brine (having 
first dissolved the salt and skimmed ofif the 
impurities). This final hot dip kills insect 
eggs, and the fruit, after drying ofif away 
from the access of insects, should be packed 
tightly in boxes. 

The following explicit hints on the curing 
of prunes are based upon wide experience 
and observation in the Santa Clara valley: 

Be sure to allow the prunes to obtain all of the 
sugar they can from the trees by hanging until they 
drop of their own accord. Do not pick up until 
prunes are soft to the touch. These two rules are 
productive of nice black prunes. They may not be 
black when gathered in the bins but will color with 
age, without any foreign coloring matter. 

Do not keep prunes in bo.xes overnight. They go 
through a sweat, and do not make a first quality 
of dried fruit, and take much longer to dry. It is 
better to let the prunes lie on the ground under 
the tree for several days than to let the picked 
prunes lie in the boxes over one night. 

The dipping fluid must be kept at the boiling 
point and no prunes put in unless it is boiling. It is 
not a matter of how strong the lye is, but how hot is 
the water. On the trays prunes will either dry or 
ferment. Unless the dip is hot enough the prune 
v/ill not immediately commence to dry, but will, 
in a few days, become a chocolate color and re- 
fuse to drv, sometimes a few on a tray, often half 
and sometimes nearly all. If the water is at the 
boiling point all through the dip, two pounds of 
Ive to the too gallons of water may be sufficient. If 
the water is not boiling ten pounds of lye to the 
100 gallons of water may be required. 

Weather conditions govern the time prunes should 
remain on the traj'. Grasp a handful of prunes and 
give them a gentle squeeze and open the hand quickly, 
if the prunes separate they are ready to stack the 
trays and the fruit should be placed in the bin be- 
fore it rattles on the trays. 

When the prunes are sufficiently dry put them in 
a dry place where it will not rain on them, but 
do not prevent the air from getting to them. Let 
the wind' have free access until the rains set in, 
then close doors and make the house as snug as 
you can. In making bins, be sure the boards are 
dry and the bins well above ground, or you will 
have trouble. Do not let prunes get damaged by rain. 

For dipping before packing, some use a brine 
dip — about five pounds of salt to too gallons of water 
is about right. This salt dip can be used more 



safely for prunes than for peaches or other pitted 
fruit, as in some instances it has attracted mois- 
ture and caused mold. As to the respective results 
of a salt solution and glycerine solution, the salt 
seems to be a cleansing process, which leaves the 
skin of the fruit in a bright, clear condition and 
brings out the blue bloom, which is desirable. The 
glycerine is more of a syrupy or glossy nature, and 
on prunes that are inclined to be reddish this solu- 
tion can be used to advantage. A common method 
of treating prunes is to use the small prunes and 
suspend them in the steam-heated tank of the An- 
derson dipper, where they cannot come in contact 
with the steam (which causes the skin and meat of 
the prune to turn dark), dissolve out the juice, thus 
forming a dip liquor, and this is quite extensively 
used. 

Raisins. — The varieties of grapes used 
for raisins are described in Chapter XXVIII. 
The production of raisins has reached such 
an e.xtent, and employs so much skill and 
capital, that the processes employed to 
facilitate the curing and packing are so 
various that a description of them can not 
be attempted. Besides, an excellent special 
treatise has been written on this subject.* 
However, in beginning the commercial pro- 
duction of raisins, one should visit the 
raisin farms and packing-houses during the 
harvest. The following description by T. C. 
White, of Fresno, gives an outline of prac- 
tise in the vineyard: 

In Fresno picking commences about the first of 
September, although there have been seasons when 
it occurred as early as the 20th of August. The 
grapes under no circumstances should be picked for 
raisins until they are ripe. There are three ways 
by which to ascertain this fact : First, by the color, 
which should be a light amber; second, by the taste; 
and third, by the saccharometer, which is by far the 
most accurate. A grape may be ripe, and not have 
the proper color, when grown entirely in the shade. 
The juice of the grape should contain at least 
twenty-five per cent saccharine, to produce a good 
raisin. 

The method of drying is with trays placed upon 
the ground. The almost entire absence of dew in 
our locality greatly facilitates this method. The 
trays are usually twenty-four by twenty-six inches, 
which hold about twenty pounds of fruit, and should 
produce from six to seven pounds of raisins. The 
product of a vineyard depends largely upon its age 
and favorable conditions, varying from two to nine 
tons of grapes per acre. 

The trays are distributed along the sides of the 
roads, from which they are taken by the pickers as 
they are needed. As the grapes are picked from the 
vines, all imperfect berries, sticks, and dead leaves 
are removed from the bunches, which are then placed 
upon the trays, right side up. A cluster has what 



How to Grow them 



383 



Grape Syrup 



is called a right and a wrong side, the wrong side 
having more of the stems exposed than the right 
side. Great care should be used in picking, so as to 
handle the bunches only by the stem. If the berries 
come in contact with the hands, some of the bloom 
will be removed, which will injure the appearance of 
the raisins. The trays are placed, after filling, be- 
tween the vines, one end being elevated so that the 
grapes may receive the more direct rays of the sun. 

Too rapid drying is not desirable. The grapes are 
left upon the trays until about two-thirds dry, which, 
with us, will be from si.K to eight days. They are 
then turned. This is accomplished by placing an 
empty tray on top of the one filled with partially- 
dried raisins, and turning them both over. Then 
take off the upper or original tray, and you have 
the raisins turned without handjng or damage. After 
turning, curing will proceed more rapidly, and fre- 
quently is completed in four or five days. During 
this time they should be carefully watched to pre- 
vent any from becoming too dry. When it is found 
they are dry enough, the trays are gatherd and stack- 
ed one upon another as high as convenient for the 
sorting which follows. This protects them from the 
sun and prevents overdrying. Stacking should be 
attended to early in the morning, while the stems 
and berries are slightly moist and cool from the 
night air, as they will retain this moisture after being 
transferred to the sweat-boxes, and assist in quick- 
ening the sweating process. 

As the raisins are taken off the trays, some of the 
berries on the bunch will be dry enough and a few 
will not be sufficiently cured. To remove the moist 
ones would destroy the appearance of the cluster, 
and to leave them out longer would shrivel the dry 
ones, hence the sweat-box. The moisture is diffused 
through the box, some being absorbed by the dry 
raisins, and the stems also taking their share are 
thus rendered tough and pliable and easily manipu- 
lated when ready for packing. 

Sorting and grading require great care and judg- 
ment, and although a tedious process, it greatly fa- 
cilitates rapid packing. The sweat-box is a little 
larger than the tray and about eight inches deep, 
and contains about one hundred and twenty-five 
pounds of raisins. Heavy manila paper is used 
in the sweat-boxes, one sheet being placed in the 
bottom, and three or four more at equal distances 
as the filling progresses. The object of the paper is 
to prevent the tangling of the stems and consequent 
breaking of the bunches when removed for packing. 

The sorters have three sweat-boxes, one for the 
first, second and third qualities, as the grade will 
justify. The bunches should be handled by the stem 
and placed carefully in the sweat-boxes to avoid 
breaking the stems, thereby destroying the symmetry 
of the clusters. Any found to be too damp are re- 
turned to the trays and left a day or two longer in 
the sun. To ascertain if the fruit is perfectly cured, 
take a raisin between the thumb and forefinger and 
roll it gently until softened, when either jelly or 
water will exude from the stem end — if water, it re- 
quires further drying. When the boxes are filled, 
they are taken to the equalizer. This should be 
built of brick or adobe, and as near air-tight as 
possible, but provided with windows to allow venti- 
lation when necessary. The windows should have 
shutters to keep it dark. The filled boxes are placed 



one exactly above another to a convenient height, 
and should remain from ten to twenty days or more, 
when they will have passed through the sweating 
process. When the raisins are sufficiently equalized, 
the sweat-boxes are removed to the packing-room, 
which is provided with tables, presses, scales, etc. 

The foregoing relates to the preparation 
of the standard clusters. Loose raisins are 
now being produced in increasing quantities. 
Loose Muscatels are prepared by being put 
through the stemmer and grader. The 
stemmer removes the berries from the stems, 
and the grader, by separating according to 
size, determines the grade. During the last 
few years the seeding of raisins has in- 
creased rapidly, and large establishments for 
this work, with very ingenious machinery, 
have been erected. Seeded raisins promise to 
constitute a considerable portion of the 
product. 

A considerable quantity of dipped raisins 
are also made of the Sultana and Thomp- 
son seedless grapes and of loose or inferior 
Muscatels. A lye dip of about one pound ot 
potash to twelve gallons of water is used, 
and the solution is kept boiling hot. The 
ripe fruit is dipped for an instant, then 
plunged in fresh water for a thorough rins- 
ing, and then placed on the trays. During 
warm, dry weather in the interior, the rai- 
sins are dried in the shade by leaving the 
trays in piles, but if cooler, moister weather 
prevails, the trays must be spread out. The 
product is a handsome amber color. 

An oil dip has been profitably used with 
Thompson's Seedless : 

One quart olive oil ; ^4 pound Greenbank 
soda and 3 quarts water are made into an 
emulsion, and then reduced with 10 gallons 
water in the dipping tank, adding more 
soda to get lye-strength enough to cut the 
skins, and more soda has to be added from 
time to time to keep up the strength. The 
grapes are dipped in this solution and sul- 
phured to the proper color. 

GRAPE SYRUP. 

The manufacture of grape syrup, which 
was formerly of considerable prominence ■ 
as a means of disposing of wine grapes, 
has recently received less attention because 
of low prices in competition with the vast 
amount of syrup available from the sugar 
refineries. 



PART NINE: PRUIT PROTECTION. 



How to Grow Them 



387 



Classes of Insects 



CHAPTER XL. 



CALIFORNIA METHODS WITH INJURIOUS INSECTS. 



THE California climate, which so favors 
tree and vine by a long, mild, growing 
season also enables some insects to multiply 
much more rapidly than they do in wintry 
climes; some having several distinct broods, 
others carrying on the work of reproduction 
and destruction of plants nearly the year 
round. The difficulties of the problem of 
the control of injurious insects are con- 
stantly being increased because new pests, 
in spite of the most careful efforts to keep 
them outside our boundaries, occasionally 
find their way into our orchards and vine- 
yards. Furthermore native species, feed- 
ing, unnoticed perhaps, upon wild growths 
have found, in certain instances, that culti- 
vated plants offer to them most satisfactory 
food and then suddenly become a factor in 
the horticulturists' problem 

Undoubtedly parasitic and predaceous 
insects preying upon the injurious species 
found in the fruit plantations are of assis- 
tance, in greater or lesser measure, in reduc- 
ing the pests, and this service is being 
promoted by the introduction of beneficial 
insects from other parts of the world. There 
are many of our native species of insects, 
also syrphus and ichneumon flies, lady birds, 
etc., that are valuable in this regard. Other 
factors also, such as untoward weather- 
conditions at the time of hatching, bacterial 
and fungous diseases of insects, etc., assist 
the horticulturist in his warfare against in- 
jurious insects. It is also a fact that Cali- 
fornia conditions have demanded and favor- 
ed the development of ways and means for 
the suppression of orchard and vineyard 
pests, and methods and appliances have been 
invented which have demonstrated notable 
efficiency and value. 

While the literature upon the subject of 
insect pests in California is quite extensive. 



*I am indebted to Mr W. T. Clatke. assistant professor of 
Horticultural of the University of California. Berkely. for care- 
ful revision and extension of this chapter. 



much of it is beyond the reach of the gen- 
eral reader. Nevertheless there are a number 
of publications which should be secured and 
studied by every fruit grower. These are' 
the bulletins and reports of the Agricultural 
Experiment Station of the University of 
California, at Berkeley ; of the State Board 
of Horticulture, at Sacramento; and of the 
Bureau of Entomology of the United States 
Department of Agriculture, at Washington. 
A most useful addition to the horticulturist's 
library will be found in Kellogg's "American ' 
Insects," published by Harvey Holt and 
Company, New York. This excellent work 
of Professor Vernon Kellogg, of Stanford 
University, is particularly valuable because 
of its California observations and point of 
view. Furthermore as the study of the 
pests and the invention of means for their 
destruction are continually progressing 
one can only keep himself up to date and 
enable himself to profit by improvements, 
by diligent reading of California periodicals 
devoted to practical horticulture. 

CLASSES OF INSECTS. 

In order to arrange injurious insects in 
classes in a popular way, the grouping here 
will be based upon the character of the 
work they do. This arrangement has been 
followed by other writers and is perhaps 
better than attempting to group the insects 
which prey upon any single tree or plant, 
because injurious insects seldom restrict 
themselves to a single food plant. There- 
fore the grouping will be as follows : 

(i) Insects destroying foliage; 

(2) Insects upon the bark or upon the 
surface of leaf and fruit; 

(3) Insects boring into the twig, stem or 
root; 

(4) Insects boring into the pulp of fruits. 



Cut Worms and Ariny Worms 



388 



California Fruits : 



INSECTS DESTROYING FOLIAGE. 

Cut Worms and Army Worms.* — These 
are the larvae of Noctuid moths, which often 
become abundant over limited areas and 
do much damage to trees and plants. Cut 
worms and Army worms are terms applied 
to the same insects in California. In ordi- 
nary years they are not present in sufficient 
numbers to cause much concern, and in such 
years they are known simply as cut worms. 
When all conditions are favorable, however, 
■certain species develop in enormous numbers 
and having exhausted the food supply where 




Army worm (Hetiophila unipuncta) 

they breed, they begin to migrate or march, 
cofnmonly in a definite direction, as an 
army in search of new food. When they 
thus appear in such large numbers and take 
on the migrating habit they are called army 
worms. 

Some of the caterpillars have the habit 
of climliing up vines and trees and eating 
off the buds in the early spring. These are 
called climbing cut worms. Others remain 
at or near the surface of the ground and 
feed by cutting off the plants at this point. 
They are more commonly found in the grass 
lands, but very frequently attack cultivated 
crops, particularly on land that was in grass 
the previous year. 



•Adapted from Bulletin 192. Acr. Kxp. Station. Uiiiversitv 
California. Berkeley. 



Of the methods used to protect trees 
and plants from cut worms, poisoned bait 
is probably the most common. This con- 
sists of bran and molasses or other sweet 
substance poisoned with arsenic and dis- 
tributed in handfuls about the plants. The 
proportions are as follows : forty pounds of 
bran, two gallons of cheap molasses, and 
five pounds of arsenic. Cheap glycerine may 
be used to prevent the mixture from drying. 
This will be eaten by the worms in prefer- 
ence, usually, to the plants which it is desired 
to protect. 

Cut worms and army worms may also be 
captured by means of traps. Because of their 
habit of feeding at night and remaining 
concealed during the day, pieces of boards 
may be placed on the ground around the 
growth to be protected and these may be 
turned over during the day and the worms 
killed. 

In case of outbreaks of army worms the 
most important and successful means of 
fighting them is to keep them out of the or- 
chard or vineyard entirely. This can be 
successfully done if they are discovered in 
time, or if already in one portion they can 
be kept from spreading over the rest of the 
jiroperty. They travel in immense numbers 
in a definite direction, coming generally from 
an adjoining or nearby grain field. If a fur- 
row is plowed along the side of the place 
to be protected it will effectively step their 
progress. This furrow should be plowed a , 
deep as possible, with the vertical side next 
to the field to be protected. It can be 
further trimmed with a spade, iireferably 
cutting under slightly, making a smooth sur- 
face, over which few if any, of the worms 
will make their way. Above this shoulder 
fine pulverized earth should slope as abruptly 
upward as possible. If any of the worms 
succeed in climbing up over the smooth 
surface made by the spade they will be 
prettv sure to fall back as they reach this 
fine loose earth in an attempt to ascend 
over the projecting shoulder. Postholes 
should be dug on the straight edge of the 
furrow every fifteen or twenty feet. The 
worms in failing to scale the vertical side 
of the furrow will crawl alonsr in the bot- 
tom and fall into these holes. Here thev mav 
be killed bv pouring in a little crude oil. 
or by pouring in a little distillate and 



How to Grow Tliem 



389 



Red Humped Caterpillars 



dropping in a match, thus burning them, or 
the holes filled in and others dug. They may 
also be killed in the furrow by sprinkling 
them with kerosene or by pouring a strip 
of crude oil along the furrow. 

Canker Worms. — These are destructive 
leaf-feeding caterpillars, commonly known 
also as inch-worms, loopers or measuring 
worms, because of the peculiar loopirig 
gait by which they move about. The male 
moths are slender bodied and have broad thin 
wings, while the females are wingless, heavy- 
bodied creatures. 



and tack the top edge close to the trunk 
of the tree over a bandage of cloth which is 
put on first to make the joint tight. The 
lower edge should flare out about an inch 
from the tree all around. This trap will 
need rather frequent cleaning while the 
moths are active. 

Tent Cateri^illars. — Several species of 
hairy caterpillars called "tent caterpillars," 
or "web worms," from their spinning covers 
of cobweb-like material, under which they 
take shelter in large colonies ; but one, at 
least, of the group docs not spin a web, 



^if^^l^ 



While these caterpillars can in large meas- 
ure be controlled by spraying with lead 
arsenate or Paris green, it is by far the best 
to use the trap method of control and avoid 
having them upon the trees at all. The 
trap method depends for its success upon 
the fact that the wingless female moth 
upon emerging from her cocoon in the 
ground immediately crawls up the trunk of 
the nearby tree and places her eggs upon 
the twigs. Ry trapping the females on 
their way up into the trees no eggs can be 
placed near the foliage and the caterpillars 
hatching from them can do no damage. The 
traps are made thus : Take No. i6 or No. 
14 wire cloth in strips six inches wide, draw 



though it lives in clusters on the tree. The 
worms can be killed by cutting oS and 
burning the twig holding the cluster or by 
burning the colonies in place with a torch 
on the end of a pole, or by spraying the 
foliage with lead arsenate or Paris green. 
The pest can be reduced while pruning by 
carefully collecting and burning the egg 
clusters, which encircle the twig. 

Red-Humped Caterpillar. — Striped cat- 
erpillars, not hairy, but having two rows of 
black spines along the back, also living in 
clusters ; of reddish color with yellow and 
white lines ; a short distance back of the 
red head of the caterpillar is a red hump 



Leaf-Eating- Beetles 



390 



California Fruits : 



on which are four black spines ; black spines 
are also scattered over the body, but smaller 
than those on the back. Spray with lead 
arsenate or Paris green, or cut off and burn 
colonies. 




Caterpillar op Tussock Moth. — A con- 
spicuous caterpillar with four short, brush- 
like tufts on its back, and two long, black 
plumes at the front, and one at the rear 
of the body — see engraving. This leaf- 
eater is found on apple, pear, plum, and 
sometimes on other fruit trees, also on the 
walnut and oak. The caterpillars are pecu- 
liarly resistant to arsenical sprays and cannot 
be successfully controlled by these. The larva 
spins a cocoon sometimes in the fold of a 
leaf, more commonly in crotches or rough 
places on the bark, or even on adjacent 
iDuildings or fences, and the female, after 
emerging from the cocoon, deposits her 
eggs upon the outside of it. The engravings 
show caterpillars and their peculiar mark- 
ings. The insect is fortunately very 



freely parasitized in the egg form and 
prevented from wide injury. It can be 
controlled by destroying the egg masses 
during pruning, as they are white and very 
conspicuous.* 

Pear and Cherry Slug. — A small, slimy, 
dark-colored worm, with the fore part of the 
body notably larger than the rear part, eat- 
ing the upper surface of the leaves but not 
usually making holes through them. The 
insect can be checked by throwing fine road 
dust or air-slacked lime over the tree, which 
cakes upon the slime of the worm and de- 
stroys it. On a large scale an arsenate of 
lead or Paris green spray is best. 

Saw-Fly Worms. — There are several lar- 
vae of saw-flies which do much injury to 
pear trees, currants, etc., by eating the 
whole leaf substance except the larger ribs. 
The worms are small, not slimy like the 
]iear slug, the one infesting the pear being 
about half an inch when fully grown. Its 
general appearance and work are shown by 
the engravings. The most available remedy 
is an arsenate of lead or Paris green spray. 

Large Caterpillars on Grape-vines.! — 
The grape-vine is often seriously injured 
by the attacks of very large leaf-eating 
worms two inches and upwards in length, 
sometimes with a large horn, or spine, some- 
times without. They are larvae of several 
species of Sphinx moths or hawk-moths. 
The worms when new hatched can be killed 
by an arsenical spray or by hand-picking. The 
numbers of worms can be reduced by killing 
the large moths which are abundant at night- 
fall on beds of verbenas, or other garden flow- 
ers. These worms are related to other large 
caterpillars which feed on tobacco, tomatoes, 
etc. 

Leaf-Eating Beetles. — There are many 
beetles, large and small, which infest grape 
leaves. They can all be reduced by the 
use of arsenate of lead or Paris green, or 
those which drop to the ground when dis- 
turbed may be collected in large numbers 
on sheets spread below. 



*See Bulletin 183. University of California, Collese of Agri- 
culture. 



tSee BuHetin 192 University of California. Agricultural 
Experimental Station. 



How to Grow Them 



391 



Vine Hoppers 



The most notable of these because of its 
evil work in the central part of the State, 
and because the grub destroys the roots of 
the vine causing it to be called the "grape 
root worm," and the beetle riddles the 
leaves and young fruit. It is Adoxus vitis 
and a special study of it has been 



plants. The attack on leaves and buds causes 
them to wither and fall off. Indeed complete 
defoliation may follow their attack. When 
thrips infest fruit blossoms the essential 
parts are eaten off by the insects and the 
attacked blossom sets no fruit. Much damage 
is done by this insect and thorough investi- 




The tussock-moth I, 

made by Professor H. J. Quayle, of the gations are now under way looking to the 
University Experiment Station, the results development of practical means for its 
of which are published in Bulletin 195 control. 
of the station and remedies suggested. 
Our pictures will enable the reader to recog- 
nize the beetle and its work. The beetle 
is about one-fifth of an inch in length and 
is black or brown. 

INSECTS UPON BARK OR SURFACE 
OF LEAVES OR FRUIT. 

Leaf LicE.^ — Leaves of fruit trees, especial- 
ly the apple and plum, are sometimes almost 
covered with lice or aphides of different 
colors, from light green to black, some in- 
dividuals having wings and some wingless. 
Available remedies for all these leaf lice 
are the kerosene emulsions which will be 
given later as summer washes for scale in- 
sects, with a spray nozzle which sends spray 
upwards, so as to reach the under sides 
of the leaves. Very often these pests are 
apparently cleared out by lady-birds and 
other insects which devour them. The en- 
graving shows the general form of the aphis 
tribe. 

Thrips. — Very minute insects infesting Vine Hoppers. — Very minute, yellowish, 
buds, leaves and blossoms of pears, prunes, jumping insects infesting grape-vines very 
cherries, peaches and many other trees and early in the season, and multiplying rapidly. 




Larvae of tussock-inoth feeding on apple foliage and fruil 



Grasshoppers 



392 



California Fruits 



The vine hopper ( often called incorrectly the 
vine thrips) is the most widely distributed 
and most uniformly present of all the grape 
insects occurring in the State. It occurs in 
injurious numbers, however, chiefly in the 
Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. It is 
also present in the coast counties, but rarely 
in sufficient numbers to do much injury. 
Another larger species {Tettigonia atropunc- 
tata) occurs in these localities and sometimes 
does considerable injury in the early part of 
the season. The principal injury caused by 



\\ 




Adull ot the grape 



-greatly enlarged. 



this insect is due to the extraction of the 
plant juices. These are sucked out by means 
of a sharp beak or proboscis, which is in- 
serted into the plant tissues. 

The most satisfactory method of control is 
in the use of a hopper cage to be used in the 
early spring when the young shoots of the 
vine are about four or five inches long. 

The hopper cage, shown in an adjacent en- 
graving, consists of a framework of laths 
over which is tacked a double layer of mos- 
quito wire netting or a single 20-mesh wire 
screen. The bottom consists of a shallow pan 
or tray made by turning up about an inch 
of the edges of a sheet of light galvanized iron. 
One entire side of the cage is left open, and 
there is a V-shaped opening in the tray at 



the bottom which allows the cage to be 
pushed over the vine. The base of the V- 
shaped opening in the bottom is padded with 
leather and the vine is bumped and the hop- 
pers jarred off, at the same time that the cage 
is being swung into position. The sides of 
thiC cage and the tray at the bottom are 
smeared with crude oil, and the hoppers as 
they are jarred ofif are caught in the oil. 

If there is a breeze blowing the cage can 
be operated with the open side facing the 
wind and practically no hoppers will escape. 
If, however, the day is calm and warm and 
the hoppers are particularly active a curtain 
can readily be dropped over the open side 
as the cage is pushed onto the vine, and it 
will prevent any from escaping. 

The V-shaped opening which might allow 
hoppers to drop to the ground in front of the 
vine can be covered with canvas, as follows : 
Take two pieces of canvas about the shape 
of the opening and a little wider. Double 
this once on itself and between the two 
' layers sew in pieces of three-fourths inch 
rubber tubing transversely. These are then 
firmly tacked on the sides of the opening 
as shown in the engraving. This will allow 
'.he cage to be pushed in on the vine and the 
fle.xibility of the tubing will bring the canvas 
immediately into position again. This with 
the curtain in front, shuts ofif all possibility 
of escape. 

False Chinch-Bugs. — Small, grayish- 
brown insects (about one-eighth of an inch 
long when fully grown), which injure the 
vine leaves. They drop to the ground when 
the vine is disturbed, and may be caught as 
just described for vine hoppers. 

Gr.'VSSHOPPEks. — These pests often invade 
orchard and vineyard, and sometimes kill 
the plants outright by completely defoliating 
them. This plague has been successfully met 
by the use of the arsenic and bran remedy, 
prepared as follows: Forty pounds of bran, 
two gallons of cheap syrup, five pounds of 
arsenic, mi.xed soft with water ; a table- 
spoonful thrown by the side of each 
vine or tree. If placed on shingles about 
the vineyard, much of the poison not eaten 
may be afterward gathered up and saved.* 



*For the protection of nurseries, orchards, and vineyards it 
is often necessary to resort to various devices for excluding the 
prasshonper. or for de-tro\in« them upon adioininn tields. 
Publications describing such devices are Bulletins 142. 170 and 
192, University Hxperiraental Station, Berkeley. 



How to Grow Them 



393 



Red Spiders and Mites 



Red Spider and Other Mites. — Very bag at the end of a pole. Sulphur sprays 

minute insects, usually discernible only with have been found most eflfective in control- 

the aid of a magnifier, sometimes destroy the ling the red spider. The ingredients of the 

leaves, causing them to lose their color sulphur sprays are as prepared as follows : 




Grape leaf showine tha 



vork of the adoxus beelk-. 



and health by their inroads upon the leaf 
surface. The recj spider and yellow mite 
are conspicuous examples ; they infest nearly 
all orchard trees, especially the almond, 
prune, and plum. The eggs of the red spi- 
der are ruby-red globules, as seen with the 
magnifier, and are deposited in vast numbers 
upon the bark of the tree, and leave a red 
color upon the finger if it is rubbed over 
them. The eggs are very hard to kill, and 
treatment is most elifective when applied in 
the spring and summer after the mites are 
hatched out. The popular remedy is a thor- 
ough dusting of the trees with sulphur. 
On a large scale the sulphur is applied in 
a cloud by means of a modification of the 
broad-cast barley sower. On a small scale 
it may be applied with a bellows as for 
grape-vines, or shaken from a cheese-cloth 



Flour Paste. — Take one pound of wheat 
flour to one gallon of water. Place the fi&ur 
in a box with a screen bottom (common win- 
dow screening), and pour the water through 
it, until all the flour has been washed into 
the receiving vessel. It will then be finely 
divided and free from lumps. The mixture 
should then be brought to the boiling point, 
being stirred constantly, thus forming a thin 
paste, without lumps. 

The paste is conveniently made in 20-gallon 
lots, using the common 25-gallon kettles so 
often found on California ranches ; if large 
kettles are not available, the paste can be 
boiled in less water and then diluted to the 
above proportions before cooling. The paste 
should be strained before using. 

Sulfid of Potash Stock Solution. — Granu- 
lated, or powdered concentrated lye, 15 



The Wooley Aphis 



394. 



California Fruits 



pounds; sulphur, i8 pounds; water to make 
20 gallons. Stir the sulphur and lye togeth- 
er in a vessel which will allow plenty of room 
for boiling. When well mixed, add about one 
pint of water, placing it in a slight hollow in 
the mixture, and stir in slowly. The mixture 




spraying after the danger of rains is over, 
the minimum amount of sulphur is sufficient. 
Phylloxera. — This pest of the grape-vine is 
closely allied to the aphides, and lives both 
upon the root and leaf, though in this State 
the root type prevails and the leaf form is 
seldom seen. No remedy has yet been found 
effectual, but escape is had by using roots 
resisting the insects, as described in Chapter 
XXVI. The insects are reco.gnized, by the 




Hawk Moth la 



iPhilampeles achemon Drury.) 



Hawk moth IPhilampeles achemon Drury.) 

aid of a magnifier, as minute yellow lice, 

chiefly on the rootlets. Full account of the 

... , . , , , ., ^ . insect is given in Bulletin IQ2, University of 

will soon begin to melt and boil, formins' a r^ i-r • tt • <. c^ i- 

, „ ., J. ^., , .... ' s , California Experiment Station, 

red fluid ; stir until the boiling ceases, and 

then add water to make 20 gallons. This The Wooly Aphis. — A louse of dark 

stock solution will keep for awhile, or indefi- red color, occurring in groups, covered with 

nitely when protected from the air. a woolly substance which exudes from the 




Preparation of the Spray Mixture with 
Sulfid of Potash. — Place 10 to 15 pounds of 
sublimed sulphur, or 14 to 20 pounds of 
ground sulphur in the spray tank with 4 gal- 
lons of flour paste and i to 2 gallons of the 
sulfid of potash stock solution ; add water to 
make 100 gallons. For summer or spring 



botlies of the insects. The woolly aphis is 
an almost universal pest of the apple, though 
as shown by experience, some varieties are 
practically exempt from it. As the pest lives 
both upon root and top, its annihilation is 
impossible, but it may be reduced so that 
the fruitfulness and vigor of the tree are not 



How to Grow Them 



395 



San Jose Scale 



impaired. The use of wood ashes around the 
tree close to the trunk has been beneficial. 
Removing the earth from the root-crown and 
applying from two to five pounds of tobacco 



in gasoline or benzine, but the oil should not 
be allowed to spread upon the bark. Lady- 
birds often clear away the wooly aphis, after 
reproduction has fallen below the normal, 






Wingless partheno-genetic fe 



Winged male. 

Forms of Leaf Aphis— greatly enlarged. 



Wingless Female 



dust — a refuse from cigar factories — destroys 
the insects at this point and prolongs the 
effective life of the tree. The insect on the 




The vine hopper cage. 

branches and twigs can be reduced by 
spraying with the summer washes soon to be 
given for scale insects, or the clusters of the 
insect can be touched with a swab dipped 



from th° tree above ground. Some attention 
is being given to trial of resistant roots and 
it is likely that such roots will be generally 
used here as in Australia. How such trees 
are grown is described on page i6o. 

Scale Insects. — This is a large group of 
pests which occasion greater loss and trouble 
to our fruit growers than all other pests 
combined. There are many species, and no 
orchard tree is exempt from the attacks of 
one or more of them, though some trees are 
apparently more popular with the pests than 
others. The fruit grower should study their 
life history and classification as laid down in 
the works on entomology. It will only be 
Ijossible in this connection to introduce a few 
engravings, by which some of the most promi- 
nent pests can be recognized, and to give 
some of the remedies which are now being 
most successfully employed against them. 

San Jose Scale (Aspidiotus perniciosus). — 
This was formerly one of the worst and most 
widespread of the species of scales preying 
on deciduous fruit trees in California, but at 
present, owing to the energetic war that fruit 
growers have had to wage against it, has 
become of minor importance, and, in fact, 
has practically disappeared from some regions 
where it was formerly most injurious. The 
work of this species is generally readily dis- 
tinguished from other species of scale by the 
red blotches which are formed wherever it 
stings any part of the tree — either branch. 



Citrus Tree Scale 



396 



California Fruits 



leaf, or fruit. These red blolchei are more 
pronounced in some varieties than in others. 
When the scales are present in large numbers, 
it causes a complete discoloration of the bark 
clear to the sap-wood. This scale has its 
preference among the deciduous fruits. The 
apricot and certain varieties of cherries and 
plums are but little affected. 



^^^UiVfci^ 




Root form of Phylloxera. 

A healthy root; b, root on which the lice are working, repre- 
senting the knots and swellings caused by their punctures: c. 
root deserted hy lice and beginniny to deca\ : rf. d, (I, show how 
the lice appear on the larger roots: e. the nymph: f/. winged 
female. After Riley. 

The Greedy Scale {Aspidiotiis raj^ax). — 
This species affects many kinds of trees, de- 
ciduous as well as evergreens. Scale, about 
one-sixteenth of an inch in length; form, 
ovoid ; color, drab ; female, bright yellow. 
This insect is found in many places along the 
coast. It is distinguishable easily from the 
Aspidiottis pcniiciosiis by its whitish-yellow 
color, contrasting with the dark color of the 
latter. Generally this scale has only one 
brood in the season, and, as compared with 
the San Jose scale, it is of little danger, owing 
to its slow-breeding propensities. 

Oyster Shell Scale of Apple (Lcpido- 
saphcs uliiii). — This scale affects the apple 



chiefly, although sometimes the pear also. 
Owing to the thickness of the armor, it is 
one of the most difficult of the scales to 
exterminate. It is easily recognized by its 
long curved form. 

Rose and Berry Scale (Aulacaspis rosae). 
— This scale has such striking forms that it 
can be readily recognized. The round white 
scale is that of the female, the elongated one 
with ridges is the male. The rose scale in- 
fests, besides roses, various fruit bushes, 
especially blackberries and raspberries. Rem- 
edy : For raspberries and blackberries the 
cutting down of the canes to the ground 
should be adopted, and the stumps sprayed 
or washed with kerosene emulsion, recom- 
mended under the head of general remedies 
for scale insects. 

Oleander Scale. (Aspidiotns hederac. — 
This scale is small, flat, yellowish-white. It 
affects a great many trees, especially ever- 
greens. Lemon trees become badly aft'ected, 
and the fruit is sometimes completely covered. 
The olive is also subject, and the fruit of the 
olive when infested does not mature well, and 
wherever a scale is found, a green blotch 
makes its appearance. 

Red Scale of Orange and Lemon 
(Chrysomplialcs aurantii). — This scale affects 
citrus trees in both the coast and interior 
regions. The scale fully grown is one-twelfth 
of an inch or a little more in diameter, center 
yellow, margin light brown. The appearance 
of trees infested with this pest is very strik- 
ing, very much resembling those diseased 
from other causes, such as bad drainage, the 
leaf presenting a mottled appearance, a light 
blotch around the scale contrasting with the 
natural green of the leaf. The branches are 
but little troubled, but the fruit, like the leaf, 
becomes completely covered with the insects. 
An orange tree infested with this scale gradu- 
ally becomes sickly and languishes. 

Other Citrus Tree Scales. — Two scales 
more recently brought into this State from 
Florida are the "purple scale," Lepidosaphes 
hcskii. and the "long scale," Lepidosaphes 
gloverii. The red and purple scales of citrus 
trees are only treated successfully by fumi- 
gation with 'hydrocyanic acid gas. This treat- 
ment is an elaborate one, requiring special 
appliances which are fully illustrated and 



How to Grow Them 



397 



Brown Apricot Scale 



described in Bulletins 122, 152 and Circular 
II, which can be had free by application to the 
Agricultural Experiment Station at Berkeley. 

The Black Scale {Saissctia olcae). — 
This scale is almost a universal pest, especially 
in regions adjacent to the coast, though it has 
recently demonstrated its ability to endure 
interior valley conditions. It affects citrus 
fruit trees and some deciduous trees as well, 
and a fungus growing on its exudation causes 
the black smut, which renders tree and fruit 
unsightly ; but this smut accompanies other 




The black scale iSaissetia oleae.) 

scale insects as well as this one. It is especi- 
ally troublesome on the olive, and will quickly 
spread to ornamental plants and vines in the 
garden. It is a very difficult scale to subdue. 
On citrus trees the fumigation method is the 
only practical recourse. On deciduous fruits 
it requires both winter and summer spraying 
to hold it in check. In spite of the fact that 
immense numbers are killed by parasites, and 
perhaps by fungi as well, it is still a grievous 
pest, and should be fought unceasingly. 




twelfth to one-seventh of an inch ; color, 
dark brown on convex part, and a lighter 
brown surrounding margin ; it has two in- 
dentations on each side, and one on posterior 
end. This scale prefers to collect on the un- 
der sides of the leaves along the midrib, the 
upper sides being covered with smut. It for- 
tunately is usually held in check by natural 
agencies. 




Brown apricot scale {Eulecanium aTtneniacum.) 

Brown Apricot Scale. — The apricot tree, 
though defying the most ruinous scales of 
some other trees, is beset by certain scales. 
The black scale is one and the brown apricot 
scale another. The brown apricot scale 
{Eulccanium Anneniaciini) is boat-shaped; 
when reaching maturity, wrinkled ; the color 
is a shiny brown, darker in the center, lighter 
at the edges. A full-sized scale has a length 




Hemispherical scale [Saisietia hemispherical,) 



Soft Oilvxge Scale (Coccus Hcsperi- 
duni). — This scale is a pest of citrus trees the 
world over. The scale is ovoid, a little wider 
at one end than the other ; length, from one- 



of a quarter of an inch, and a width of one- 
eighth of an inch. This scale attacks nearly 
all kinds of deciduous fruits, but especially 
the prune and apricot. It is a very hardy 
scale, and the remarks about the black scale 
apply to it also. 



Mealy Bugs 



398 



California Fruits ; 



Other Lecaniums.- — There are several 
other scales on fruit trees: The filbert scale 
{hemisphericiim) , which is common in green- 
houses and occurs to limited extent on citrus 




Frosty scale [Eulecaniam pruinosan.) 

trees; the frosted scale {pruinosum), very 
large, oval and convex, covered with dense, 
whitish bloom, occurs on deciduous fruit 
trees. 

Cottony Cushion Scale or Fluted 
Scale (Iccrya purchasi). — This promised at 
one time to be the most grievous of all scales 
in its rapid increase and wide range of food 



Mealy Bugs. — Closely allied to the scales 
are the mealy bugs (species of dactylopius), 
soft and of a pale pink color, generally cov- 
ered with a whitish mealy powder, hence the 
name. The common species is found in 
nearly every greenhouse in the world, and 
in California climate lives in the open air 
on many kinds of plants, and has at various 
times proved quite troublesome. Unless 




checked by natural enemies, the mealy bugs 
multiply very rapidly, and mass themselves 
in the corners of the leaves. The plants turn 




A common outfit in California for cooking the lime, sulphur and salt. 



plants, but it was speedily reduced by an 
Australian ladybird, A'oz'ius (Vedalia) cardi- 
nalis, introduced by Albert Koebele, with 
such success that specimens were for a nutn- 
ber of years rarely seen, but have recently 
become abundant in some localities. 



black from the fungus growth growing on 
the honeydew, and the bush presents the same 
appearance as a scale-infested plant. With 
the aid of a magnifier the appearance of the 
mealy bugs, as different froin scales can 
be readily recognized. 



How to Grow Them 



399 



Insect Boring 



Remedies for Scale Insects. — Though 
most of the scale insects are attacked by para- 
sitic and predaceous insects, as already stated, 
these natural agencies have generally not 
proved rapid enough to cope with the increase 
of the scales, and insecticides have to be 
employed to save the fruit and trees. There 
is a vast number of these washes, many of 
which will do good work if thoroughly 
applied, which is usually the secret of suc- 
cess. A few which have proved of special 
value will be given herewith: 

A WINTER WASH FOR DECIDUOUS TREES 
WHEN LEAFLESS. 

Lime Salt and Sulphur Remedy.— T\\c following 
formula has been used with great success through- 
out the State : 

Lime 30 pounds 

Sulfur 20 pounds 

Salt 10 pounds 

Water 60 gallons 

For preparing the wash two vats or boilers are 
necessarj', and if the spraying is to be done on a 
large scale, one of these at least should hold a 
couple of hundred gallons. If but a small number of 
trees are to be treated, ordinary iron kettles will an- 
swer the purpose. Of course, the preferable way of 
cooking the wash is by means of live steam. 

First place two or three inches of water in the 
boiler, and to this add the sulphur, which has previ- 
ously been made into a paste by mixing with hot 
water in order to remove the lumps, or sift 
the dry sulphur through a mosquito wire-netting and 
stir it thoroughly. Then add about one-fourth of 
the lime, and when the violent boiling has ceased add 
another fourth, and so on until the required amount 
of lime has been added. Hot water should be added 
with the lime as needed, so as to make the mixture 
of a creamy consistency. Too much water will 
"drown" the lime, while on the other hand too little 
will cause incomplete slaking of the lime. In this 
way the heat generated by the slaking of the lime is 
taken advantage of, and by adding the sulphur first 
plenty of time is given for removing the lumps. 

By the time the lime is thoroughly slaked the fire 
should continue the boiling, so that the time of 
boiling begins with the addition of the lime. The 
salt and about one-fourth of the water should now 
be added, and the whole boiled from one to two 
hours, keeping it frequently stirred in the meantime. 
At the end of this period screen into the spray tank 
and add the necessary amount of hot water, and 
apply to the trees hot. The wash when properly 
made is a heavy reddish-brown liquid, very caustic 
and having a strong sulphur odor. The heavier 
materials settle upon standing, leaving a lighter 
liquid both in color and weight. Stock solutions of 
lime-sulphur compound are now being furnished 
ready for dilution by California manufacturers. 



WASHES FOR ALL TREES WHEN IN LEAF. 

Kerosene Emulsion. — Take kerosene, two gallons ; 
common soap, or whale-oil soap, one-half pound; 
water, one gallon. Dissolve the soap in the water 
and add it boiling hot to the kerosene. Churn the 
mixture by means of a force pump and spray nozzle 
for five or ten minutes. The emulsion, if perfect, 
forms a cream which thickens on cooling. Dilute 
before using, one part of the emulsion with nine 
parts of cold water. To obtain this emulsion in 
proper form violent agitation is necessary, the time 
required depending upon the violence of the agita- 
tion and temperature of the mixture. Professor 
Cook's formula is this : "Dissolve in two quarts of 
water one-fourth pound of hard soap by heating to 
the boiling point, then add one pint of kerosene oil 
and stir violently from three to five minutes." This 
is best done by use of the force pump. This mixes 
the oil permanently, so that it will never sepa- 
rate. Add seven pints of water and the wash is 
ready for use. 

Resin Soap. — Take ten pounds of resin, one and 
and one-half pints of fish oil, three pounds of caustic 
soda (76 per cent), and enough water to make 
fifty gallons. Place all the ingredients together in 
the boiler with water enough to cover them three 
or four inches. Boil one-half hour, or until the com- 
pound resembles very black coffee. Dilute to one- 
third the final bulk with hot water, or, if cold 
water is used, add very slowly over the fire, making 
a stock mixture to be diluted to the full amount 
as used. When spraying, the mixture should be 
perfectly fluid and without sediment. This mix- 
ture can be used twice or three times as strong on 
deciduous trees when dormant. 

INSECTS BORING IN TWIG, STEM, OR 
ROOT. 

Peach Twig-Borer or Peach Worm*. — 
This larva is probably the most serious insect 
pest that the California peach grower has had 
to contend with. The creature hibernates as 
a young larva in burrows in the crotches of 
the tree. 

As soon as the tree begins to grow in the 
spring the larva becomes active, eats its way 
out of its winter home and bores into the 
new growing twigs causing them to wither 
and die. Later generations of the worm 
attack the fruit and from the two. forms of 
attack much loss may accrue to the orchardist. 

Destruction of the larvae in their winter 
burrows overcomes all damage froin these 
pests. This can be accomplished by spraying 
with the lime, sulphur and salt compound (see 
with the lime, sulphur and salt compound in 
the late winter or very early spring. 



Experimental 



Peach Crown- Borer 



400 



California Fruits : 



The Common Borer. — An insect which 
has done vast injury in this State "is the 
"flat-headed apple borer" {chrysobothris fem- 
orata). It affects chiefly apples, peaches and 
plums, etc., which have been injured by sun- 
burn. It is a pale-colored grub with a brown 
head, the forepart of the body being greatly 
flattened. The matured beetle is greenish 
black or bronze colored, copper colored on the 
under side. If any tree receives any damage 
to the bark, either by sunburn or other causes, 
the borer is sure to find it, and it works itself 
into the tree, its castings being the only guide 
to its presence. The best remedy is preven- 
tion by protection from sunburn, as described 
in Chapter XI. Whenever a borer is -emoved, 
the debris and dead wood should be entirely 




Peach [wig showing winter burrow, natural size. 

cleaned out and the smooth surface left, tak- 
ing care to preserve the bark as much as 
possible. Then the wound should be smeared 
over with grafting wax, and a rag tied about 
it. In this manner young trees have been 
saved, but if seriously attacked, it is better 
to put in a sound tree and protect it. 

Sun-Scald Borer. — Another borer which 
delights in sunburned trees is a minute beetle, 
making a burrow hardly larger than a pin- 
hole. It js known as the sun-scald beetle 
(Xylobonis xylographtis). The remedy, as 
in the former case, is to prevent injury to the 
bark, for this precedes the attack of the beetle. 

The Olive Twig-Borer. — A reddish brown 
beetle boring into twigs of olive and other 
orchard trees, and grape canes, at the axils 
of the leaves. It is Polycaoii confertiis, and 
it breeds in decaying logs and stumps and old 
grape-vines, apparently visiting the fruit trees 



merely to gratify its appetite. Its work is 
not fatal to the tree, but unless proper prun- 
ing and attention be afterwards given, it may 
spoil the shape of a young tree. Remove 
the affected branches below the burrows of 
the beetle, or if it would be difficult to re- 
place a branch, see that the beetle is destroyed 
and the entrance to the hole stopped up — this 
to prevent decay and a weak branch follow- 
ing. Spraying with ill-smelling solutions may 
prevent their attack, but the insect has not 




been sufficiently abundant to invite serious 
effort thus far. 

Peach Crown-Borer. — A grub boring into 
peach trees just below the ground surface, 
its presence being shown by copious gumming. 
The insect, which has become quite trouble- 
some in Santa Clara County, resembles the 
Eastern crown-borer of the peach, but is a 
distinct species {Sanninoidea opalcsccns). 
The best methods of suppressing this insect are 
three. A preventive treatment consists in 
coating the base of the tree a few inches 
below the surface and a foot above with a 
whitewash, with a pint of coal tar to each 
five pounds of quicklime, put in while the 
lime is slaking. This should be done in April. 
A killing treatment which has proved effec- 
rive and safe to the tree is carbon bisulphide,- 
when wisely used. Mr. Ehrhorn gives these 
precautions : 

Carbon bisulphide should not be applied when 
the soil is wet or just before a rain, nor just after 
cutting out borers and putting on lime and other 
preventives. Avoid putting it on the bark of the 
tree. Procure a machine oiler which will hold about 



How to Grow Them 



401 



The Apple Worm 



eight ounces of carbon bisnlphide, remove the soil 
around the trunk of the tree about six inches wide 
and six inches deep, being sure to detach all soil 
adhering to the trunk of the tree. After this is done, 
fill in this space with loose soil to the level again. 
Now .squirt the liquid a few times from one to 
one and one-half inches away from the bark around 
the tree, and cover immediately with six inches of 
soil. Borers have been killed in from twenty hours 
to three days ; after they are found to be dead, the 
soil should be removed from around the trees so 
that any remaining fumes of bisulphide can be dis- 
sipated. 

The method in most general use is known as 
the "worming process.'' This consists essentially in 
carefully cutting out and killing the individual bor- 
ers. Special tools have been devised for this work. 



pests of the State. It preys chiefly upon the 
apple and pear, but the quince and otlier large 
fruits are sometimes invaded by it. The 
first moths appear at some time after the 
blossoming of the apple, and deposit their 
eggs on the young fruit, or an adjacent 
leaves. The young worm hatches in from 
seven to ten days, generally seeks the eye 
or calyx, and eats its way into the fruit, 
and in twenty days its full growth is attain- 
ed, and it goes out through the side of the 
apple, and, by means of its spinnaret. reaches 
the ground or some large branch. If landed 
on the ground, it usually seeks the trunk. 




A nearly full-g: 



Magnified four dii 



A full description of these processes can be found 
in Bulletin 143, University of California, College of 
Agriculture. 

Strawberry Root-Borer. — The larva of 
another clear-winged moth (Aegeria impro' 
pria), boring into the root of the strawberry 
plants, found in various portions of the State, 
and doing considerable damage, forcing the 
growers to resort to replanting much earlier 
than otherwise would be necessary. Flooding 
the vines has a great tendency to kill out the 
worms, and if the water was retained, say 
four or five days during the winter, all over 
the plants, doubtless all the larvae would be 
killed. 

Currant and Gooseberky Borer. — A 
white worm eating out the central pith of 
currant and gooseberry plants — the larva of 
another clear-winged moth {Aegeria tipiili- 
formis). Spraying with whale-oil soap after 
the crop is gathered, pruning out and burning 
in the fall of all old wood which can be 
spared, will reduce the evil. 

INSECTS DEVOURING THE PULP OF 
FRUITS. 

The Apple Worm. — The codlin moth 
(Carpocapsa pomonella) is one of the great 



which it ascends and soon finds a hiding- 
place under the loose bark, where it spins 
its cocoon, and in eight or ten days comes 
forth a moth, ready to lay eggs anew. The 
egg is laid all over the fruit, and especially 
at a point where two fruits touch. Usually 
we have in this State two broods, at least, 
but sometimes three, and, naturally, if un- 
checked, the increase from the first to the 
last is enormous. The worms escaping from 
the fruit in the fall hibernate as larvae tin- 
der the loose bark of the tree, or iti store- 
houses, or in any available dry place. 

On the basis of long experience in the 
Watsonville district Mr. W. H. Volck, county 
entomologist, gives the following outline of 
operations against the apple worm : 



There are two broods in a season. The first 
develops from worms that have wintered over in 
protected places both above and in the ground. The 
moths of the first generation begin emerging in .Vpril. 
but very few eggs are laid before the middle of May. 
In this locality egg-laying is then continuous until 
the last of June. 

The full-grown worms of the first generation after 
emerging from the apples seek some hiding place 
where they may rest for a few days, transforming 
into pupa and then into full-grown moths. 



Ants and Yellow Jackets 



402 



California Fruits 



The moths of the second generation hegin laying 
eggs early in August and may continue to do so 
as late as October or November. It is the worms of 
the second generation tiiat do the greatest amount 
of damage. 

The codling moth lays its eggs on the surface of 
the leaves and fruit. The eggs are about the size 
of a small pin-head, circular and flat. The color 
varies from white to pink and red. These eggs 
are easily seen when the observer knows what to 
look for. 

The young worms hatch from the eggs about ten 
days after laying, and then begin crawling about in 
search of fruit to burrow into. This short period 
between the hatching of the egg and the entrance 
into the apple is the only time that spraying opera- 
tions can prove effective. It is clearly impossible 
to accomplish an3'thing by the use of sprays that 
will only kill by contact, for such sprays would have 
to be applied nearly every day. The spraying opera- 
tion must then leave a deposit of some substance 
on the fruit that will kill the worms when they 
attempt to burrow through the rind. The only 
substance now known that answers these require- 
ments are the compounds of arsenic. 

Arsenic is, however, poisonous to plants and must 
be applied with caution. The arsenic compound used 
must be entirely insoluble in water, and not subject 
to weathering, in order that it shall be perfectly 
safe. The wet fogs of the Pajaro valley summers 
give arsenical spray compounds a very severe test 
and it has been found that only the best quality 
of arsenate of lead is able to stand it. Arsenate 
of lead may do very severe burning, however, if it 
is not of the proper quality. 

It is a well known fact that a large percentage 
of the worms of the first generation 'enter at the 
blossom ends of the apples. This part is protected 
or more or less closed over by the leaves of the 
calyx. 

The calyx cups close very shortly after the petals 
fall, and so it is advised by the best authorities 
to spray as soon after the falling of the blossoms 
as possible in order to leave a deposit of poison 
there. In the Pajaro valley and adjoining sections 
weather conditions often prevent spraying at this 
time, but where possible to apply, the calyx cup 
spraying is advised. 

Good results have been obtained by spraying in 
the early part of May, which is considerably after 
the calyx cups have closed. Spraying at this time 
gives much the same effect as the calyx cup applica- 
tion, especially where it is applied with proper 
thoroughness. This early spraying is applied before 
any worms have appeared and is intended merely to 
have the poison in readiness for the insects when 
thev do come. 

The first codling moth spraying should contain 
Bordeaux Mixture as a precaution against the scab : 

Bordeaux Mixture — Copper sulphate 3 pounds, 
lime 4 pounds, water 50 gallons. 

Arsenate of Lead — Use 2.V2 to 3 pounds of ar- 
senate of lead to each 50 gallons of Bordeaux. 

The Bordeaux Mixture should be prepared first, 
and enough space left in the tank to allow for the 
addition of the arsenate of lead and the water re- 
quired to mix it. 



The second spraying should be applied from the 
last of May to the first ten days in June, and is 
intended to augment the effect of the first spraying 
by further covering the rapidly expanding fruit. 

For this spraying use 2 pounds of arsenate of 
lead to 50 gallons of water. No Bordeaux should be 
used with this spraying, for the previous sprayings 
containing Bordeaux will have controlled the scab, 
and the further use of the f\mgicide is likely to 
russet the apples. 

Very few eggs are laid during July, so if the 
second spraying has been applied about the first 
of June it should suffice to control the first genera- 
tion attack. The second generation worms begin to 
appear about the first of August, so a spraying is 
due at this time. 

For the third spraying, use 2 pounds of ar- 
senate of lead to 50 gallons of water. 

If the apples are to remain on the trees through 
September they should receive another spraying about 
t!ie first of this month. 

For the fourth spraying, if the other three have 
been applied according to directions, use 1% pounds 
of arsenate of lead to 50 gallons of water. 

The schedule of sprayings above laid out should 
control the codling moth under average conditions, 
and even where the insect is extremely abundant 
should yield 95 per cent, clean fruit. 

The codling moth is much affected by weather 
conditions, and if there is a large amount of cold 
fog during the summer the damage will be much 
reduced. 

The Peach Worm. — As already stated, 
the larva of the peach moth, which early in 
the spring bores into the twigs, is sometimes 
found later in the season in the flesh of the 
peach. Hence the importance of saving the 
fruit by proper winter treatment of the hiber- 
natina: worms. 



ANTS AND YELLOW JACKETS. 

These insects are often of serious trouble 
during fruit drying. Ants are inost effectually 
disposed of by slightly opening their holes in 
the ground by thrusting down a crowbar and 
pouring in a couple of ounces of carbon bi- 
sulphide and closing again with earth. Yel- 
low jackets also nest in the ground in old 
squirrel or gopher holes, and they too can be 
suffocated with carbon bisulphide or by pour- 
ing in gasoline or kerosene and firing it. 
Hornets which nest in trees are troublesome, 
but are much less numerous than the cave- 
dwelling species. 

To destroy yellow jackets by trapping and 
poison is also feasible. W. F. ]\Ioycr, of 
Napa, proceeds in this way : 

Make a thin fruit syrup by mashing the boiling 
ripe fruit, strain it and add a little sugar. Place 



How to Grow Tlieiii 



403 



Disinfecting Nursery Stock 



the syrup dishes on the drying groinid where the 
"jackets" are thickest. When the top of the syrup 
is covered with drowned and drowning "jackets," 
scoop them out w'ith the hand, and crush them with 
the foot. They won't sting unless you pinch them. 
.\s the syrup evaporates fill up the dishes with water. 
If a day or two should elapse when no fruit is cut, 
he sure the traps are well cared for, as they will 
swarm around them thicker than ever, espi ially 
if the weather is hot. For dishes to place the .yrup 
in, cut kerosene cans so as to make two can . each 
about six and one-half inches deep. 

Poisoning to carry destruction to the young 
brood is also practicable. Dr. J. H. Miller, 
of San Leanclro, savefl his fruit in this way : 

I bought half a dozen beef livers, five pounds of 
arsenious acid and several pounds of baling wire. 
Cutting the liver into pieces as large as a man's 
fist, I put them into a hot solution of arsenious acid, 
and, bending the wire into a hook at each end, I 
suspended the pieces from the lower limbs of trees 
all around my drying-ground. The fruit was soon 
deserted, and the little insects busily working at 
the fragrant liver. The insects carried pieces of the 
liver to their nests, and besides causing the death 
of those that had been destroying my fruit, the next 
generation of yellow jackets was also destroyed, and 
so complete was the destruction that there were 
not enough of the little pests in that neighborhood 
the following year to require a repetition of the treat- 
ment. There is no risk in so using the poison, for 
the yellow jackets will not return to the fruit, and- 
liees will not go near the meat. 

The Di.abrotic.x. — A light green beetle 
witli twelve spots on his back (Diabrolica 
sornr). is sometimes very injurious to early 
fruit, by eating into it when ripe. The insect 
also eats leaves and blossoms. As the insect 
attacks the fruit just as it is ready to pick, 
it is impossible to apply any disagreeable or 
poisonous spray. Sometimes the insects are 
driven away by dense smoke from fires in and 
around the orchard. 

The. Dried Fruit Worm.— Dried fruit is 
often seriously injured after packing, by a 
small worm, larva of a moth not yet deter- 
mined. The eggs are deposited on the fruil 



cither while drying or while in the packing- 
house, or through the cloth of the sacks, or 
seams of the package. The eggs may be 
killed on the fruit before packing, by dipping 
in boiling water, or by heating in an oven 
and after that preventing the access of the 
moth. Infested fruit can also be treated by 
bisulphide vapor, the method being the same 
as described for nursery stock below. 

DISINFECTING NL'RSERY STOCK. 

Cuttings, scions, young trees and vines, etc.. 
can be freed from insects by inclosing in a 
tight box or cask and placing a saucerful of 
carbon bisulphide on the top of them, cover- 
ing it with canvas or any tight-fitting cover. 
The bisulphide vapor will destroy all insect 
life in forty minutes. 

Disinfecting such materials on a larger 
scale may be done in this way : 

Use square canvas sheets, si.xteen to twenty feet 
in diameter, made of the best ducking, double stitch- 
ed and then painted with boiled linseed oil to make 
it gas proof. The canvas must be perfectly dr\ 
before it is rolled up, or it is liable to be destroyed 
by spontaneous comlnistion. To fumigate evergreen 
stock use one ounce of cyanide of potassium (in 
lumps, not pulverized), one fluid ounce of com- 
mercial sulphuric acid, and two fluid ounces of 
water to one hundred cubic feet of enclosed sp;ioe. 
For deciduous and hardy trees, when dormant, 
use one-fourth more of each of the above. When 
the canvas has been placed over the stock to be 
fumigated, prepare the charge. Take a three or 
four-gallon glazed eartlicnware jar, into which pour 
the necessary quantity of water, then the sulphuric 
acid, and place it well luider the canvas, the edges 
of which are secured with soil or in some way .so as 
to prevent the gas escaping, with the exception ot 
the edge immediately in front of the jar. The 
proper amount of cyanide of potassium is then drop- 
ped into the jar from a long scoop, and the teni 
is immediately closed, and remains so fiu- one hour. 

It is hoped that this chapter will convey 
useful hints in the warfare against insects. 
Whenever questions arise which are not met 
thereby, appeal should be made to the L'ni- 
versity Ex])eriment Station at P.erkeley. 



Leaf Spotting 



404 



California Fruits 



CHAPTER XLI. 



DISEASES OF TREES AND VINES. 



A FEW suggestions concerning pathological 
conditions which arise in trees and vines 
and prescription of treatment and remedies 
may be helpful : First, diseases demonstrat- 
ed to be caused by fungi and bacteria; 
second, abnormal conditions, of which the 
causes are not vet clear. 




Effect of mildew on young growth of grape vine. 

Powdery Mildews. — Fungi which bring 
upon the leaf surface the appearance of a 
whitish powder and afterwards cause the 
leaf to curl and dry without producing 
marked swelling, perforation or discoloration, 
can be checked by the use of sulphur. The 
chief of these is the mildew of the grape, 
the mildew of the apple, appearing chiefly 
on the young growth, etc. The way to 
use sulphur for these fungi is to throw finely 
ground or sublimed sulphur on the young fo- 
liage at the first sign of the trouble, either bv 



hand or with suitable machinery which is fully 
discussed in Bulletin i86 of the California 
Experiment Station. 

Leaf-Spotting, Puncturing or Deform- 
ing Fungi. — These classes are usually dis- 
tinguishable by the results they produce. 
The mildew of the peach produces dense, 
whitish patches on the leaves and growing 
fruit ; the curl-leaf fungus of the peach pro- 
duces swellings and contortions of the leaf ; 
the scab of the apple and pear produces first 
a smoky appearance on the leaf and after- 
wards causes black scabby patches on the 
fruit and on the young twigs ; the slot-hole 
fungus of the apricot, plum, cherry, and 
.ilmond cuts roundish holes in the leaves 
as though a shotgun had been discharged 
through the foliage, and then, in the case 
of the apricot, produces roundish, dark red 
pustules on the fruit ; the brown rot which 
attacks both twigs and fruit of apricots, 
prune, blackberry, etc., produce eruptions on 
plums and peaches ; the rust fungi of the 
the under sides of the leaves, first of a 
yellowish or orange color, changing to dark 
iDrown or black, and causing the leaf to fall. 
These fungi are only slightly, if at all, 
checked by the dry sulphur treatment, and 
are best subdued by the use of copper 
solutions : 

Tlic Bordeaux Mixture. — Lime, four pounds; blue- 
stone (sulphate of copper), four pounds; water, 
forty gallons. Use part of the water to slake the 
lime and dissolve the bluestone, which should be 
done in separate vessels. The bluestone should not 
be put in a metal vessel. If put into a bag and 
suspended near the surface of the water, it will dis- 
solve more readily, or hot water may be used in 
making the solution. Both should be cold when 
mixed, and the resultant mixture will be a beauti- 
ful blue wash. If mixed hot, a black compound 
(copper o.xide) is produced, which reduces the value 
of the wash. After thorough mixing of the solu- 
tions, water should be added to bring the bulk up to 
forty gallons. 

This is safe to use on foliage. It may 
be used much stronger when trees are dor- 



How to Grow Them 



405 



Toadstool Destruction 



mant, — as strong as ten pon"'!'^ of lime and 
ten pounds of bluestone to lu, . , gallons of 
water to kill spores of fungi on the bark, 
but the chief advantage of the stronger 
mixture is not directly in spore-killing but 
in the longer resistance to removal by rains. 
This winter treatment is a successful pre- 
ventive of curl-leaf on the peach, shot-hole 
on the apricot, scab on the apple and pear, 
rust on the prune, etc. In the case of the 
peach blight, which is an invasion of the 
young bark by the shot-hole fungus, an 
autumn spraying is imperative to protect the 



Mixture, viz. : Copper carbonate, four ounces ; 
ammonia, forty ounces ; water forty gallons. 

The usual way of making this wash is 
to dissolve copper carbonate in ammonia, 
and then dilute. If the carbonate is not fully 
dissolved before the water is added, it can 
not be further dissolved, and not only is 
the carbonate wasted, but the fluid will not 
be up to standard strength. It is well, there- 
fore, to give the ammonia ample time to 
act, say over night, before adding the water. 

The lime, salt and sulphur mixture, as al- 
readv prescribed for scale insects in the 




Machine ready to sulphur the vines for mildew on the University farm. 



dormant twigs.* When the fungus survives 
winter treatment or when it attacks the 
fruit, as in the case of the apricot particularly, 
or the leaf in the peach, there should follow 
the weaker Bordeaux in the spring or 
summer, as early as indications of the dis- 
eases may appear. In spraying for apple and 
pear scab, the addition of five pounds of 
lead arsenate to each one hundred gallons 
of the Bordeau.x Mi.xture makes the appli- 
cation answer also for the codlin moth, as 
described in the preceding chapter. 

When it is desirable to use a fungicide 
on fruit near the picking season, or on orna- 
mental plants, which would be disfigured with 
the lime wash, the ammoniacal copper car- 
bonate may be substituted for the Bordeaux 



preceding chapter, is an active fungicide for 
winter use. It is sometimes a satisfactory 
curl-leaf preventive in the interior valleys 
especially. 

Toadstool Desthlction. — Trees are often 
destroyed through invasion by toadstool 
fungi from the decaying roots or wood 
with which their roots come in contact. 
The injury is often not detected imtil the 
tree is ruined and it is too late for treatment. 
If only part is affected, the disease may 
sometimes be arrested by cutting away the 
diseased parts and disinfection of the exposed 
tissue with the Bordeaux Mixture. 

Moss, Lichens, etc., on the Bark. — It 
has been clearly shown by investigation at 
the University Experiment Station that the 
growth of moss, etc., upon the bark of fruit 
trees is a decided injury. .\11 trees should 



Diseases not Traceable 



406 



California Fruits 



be assisted to maintain clean, health)- l)ark. 
This is accomplished by the use of the lime, 
salt and sulphur mixture already prescribed 
for scale insects. It can also be done by 
winter spraying with caustic soda or potash, 
une ]iound to six gallons of water. 



bacterium, has so far resisted treatment. 
The disea.se is recognized by black sunken 
spots on the hull of the young walnut ; gen- 
erally worst at the blossom end and usually 
first seen there early in the season ; later the 
s])ots run together and encompass consid- 




Effect of brown rot on fruit and twigs of apricots. 



Ulights .\ni) Dicc.ws. — There are several 
lilights which are traceable to bacteria, para- 
sitic growths which are not discernible as 
are the fungi, and not usually amenable 
to spray treatment, because they exist wholly 
within the tissues of the plant and are not 
reached by applications. The blights of the 
pear, the black heart of the apricot, the 
olive tuberculosis, etc., are instances. Cut- 
ting back to healthy wood (with tools dipped 
after each cut in corrosive sublimate, one 
part to one thousand parts of water), and 
burning all removed parts is the best treat- 
ment which can at present be prescribed. 

The walnut blight, demonstrated by Newton 
I'.. Pierce, of Santa .\na, to be caused bv a 



crable areas of the surface. As the disease 
]jrogresses the nut is transformed into a 
hateful black mass and is utterly destroyed. 
The disease also affects the leaves and young- 
wood. The recourse seems to be toward re- 
sistant varieties, as stated in the chapter on 
the walnut. 

Lemon I\ot. a fungus disease destructive 
to the fruit in the orchard and during cnring 
or in trai-isit, is fully expounded in Bulletin 
}i)0 (if the L'niversity Experii-nent Station. 

DISR.XSES XOT TRACEABLE To 

PARASITIC GROWTHS. 

'inhere are a number of proininent troubles 
which are not traceable to parasitic invasion 



How to Grow ThfUi 



407 



Sour Sap 



i)f any kiiul. aiul \L-t may lit- in ^nnie caso 
promoted by l)acterial >jrn\vth invited by 
precediiisj' conditions. 



to ^I'ow anil then ibe young growth shrivels. 
Severe cutting l)ack of the top to reduce 
evaporation until the roots can restore their 




The peach blight — twijjs from sprayed and unsprayed trees. 



SoL'k S.'\i'. — There is a t'ernieiitation of 
tlie sap, quite noticealile by its odor, wliich 
may be found in all parts of the tree, from 
the root to the topmost twigs ; sometimes 
in one part and not in another. Sour sap 
in the root is generally due to standing 
water in the soil, and the remedy is drain- 
age. Trees thus affected make an effort 



feeding fibers is the only treatment of the 
tree, ani.1 its success depends upon the ex- 
tent of the root injury. Sour sap may also 
be caused in the branches by the occurrence 
of frost after the sap flow has actually 
started. Cutting back the diseased parts, 
as soon as discovered, to sound wood, is 
the ])ro])er treatment. 



Root Knots 



408 



California Fruits 



Die-Back. — Dying back of twigs or 
branches may occur without parasitic inva- 
sion through root-weakness or partial fail- 
ure. It may be due to standing water or 
to lack of soil moisture, either of which will 
destroy the root-hairs and bring the tree 
into distress. The treatment is cutting back 
to sound wood and correcting the soil con- 
ditions, either by irrigation or drainage, as 
one or the other may be needed to advance 
vigorous growth in the tree. 



fully demonstrated as yet and the University 
Plant Disease Laboratory, at Whittier, is 
undertaking careful and wide studies of 
which the results will appear in the Uni- 
versity bulletins. When there is an out- 
break of ginn where it can be treated it 
is desirable to cleanly remove all the un- 
healthy bark — cutting clean to sound bark 
and covering the wound with paint or wax 
to exclude the air. 




Tuberculosis of the olive. 



GuM.MOSis. — This is a convenient term 
to designate the gimiming which is seen 
on many kinds of trees. As has been said 
of die-back, gumming may result from ex- 
cess of water or of drouth in the soil. Gum- 
ming is, therefore, not considered in itself 
a disease, but rather an indication of con- 
ditions unfavorable to the thrifty growth 
of the tree. It has been usually found by 
investigation that trees in perfect condition 
of health, with the moisture just enough 
and not excessive, are not troubled with 
gumming; but there are cases in which this 
statement does not wholly apply. There is 
very much in this connection which is not 



M 


1 


" i£.' ' jiH^HI 


1 


1 


L 


J 


pi^^ '" .^ 




Crown knot on peach just hi-low ground. 



Root Knots. — These are excrescences upon 
the roots or at the root crown of various 
trees and of grape-vines, and they have 
been a serious trouble in this State for a 
good many years. Some of the knots have 
been studied by experts in plant pathology 
and the cause of the trouble demonstrated 
to be a fungus and the disease infectious. 
A satisfactory treatment has, however, been 
discovered. If the knot has not increased 
in size sufficientlv to seriously interfere with 



How to Grow Them 



409 



Bacterial Blig-ht 



the growth of the tree it can be smoothly and filling the hole with bluestone solution, 
removed, the wound treated with the Bor- hut some trees have been killed in this way. 




Effect upon the nuts of the bacterial blight of walnuts. 

deaux Mixture, and the knot will not lUucstone can be used with least danger 
reappear at the same place. Success has also when the tree is dormant, 
been had with Iiorina: a hole into the knot 




Rabit Fences 



41(1 



California Fniits 



CHAPTER XLli. 

SUPPRESSION OF INJURIOUS ANIMALS AND BIRDS. 



Tl 1 K beasts of the Held and the fowls of the 
air are sometimes such grievous tres- 
passers upon the fruit plantation that pro- 
tection has to be sought against them. 
The animals which figure in this evil work 
are mainly species of rodcntia. some of them 
burrowers, as, for example, the ground-squir- 
rel and gopher ; others, surface dwellers, 
like the hare or jackass rabbit. Occasionally 
there is injury done by deer in the orchard 
and vineyard, and coons in the melon patch, 
but these larger animals may usually be left 
to the hiuiters and the dogs. 

RABBITS. 

Though there are three species prevalent, 
iKiiic are burrowers. This fact has led 
to united efforts at their suppression by 
driving them, with mounted horsemen, from 
a wide stretch of country into a narrow, 
fenced inclosure, where they are killed with 
clubs. During the last few years tens of 
thousands have been killed in this way, 
and comparatively few are now found in the 
localities where the method has been adopted. 
Still, however, there are plenty at large to 
vex the fruit planter, and he must protect 
himself against them. 

Rabbit Fences. — The surest protection 
agains rabbits is a fence which prevents their 
entrance, and many miles of such fence have 
been built in this State. Several styles pre- 
vail. The ordinary board fence, with the 
boards running horizontally, is made rabbit - 
proof by placing the lower boards close to- 
gether, with openings of but about two inches 
between them. A barbed wire, with barbs 
about two and one-half inches apart, can be 
used to advantage by running it along at 
or a little below the surface of the ground 
to prevent scratching under. 

The cost of board fences has led to the 
use of barbed wire and wire nettings, or of 
perpendicular slats interwoven with wire 
Such materials are sold in large quantities. 



.\ very effective combination of barbed wire 
and netting, which is used in the upper San 
Joaquin N'alle)-, is described as follows : 

The tall posts are regular split redwood posts. 
The intermediate small ones are made by sawing in 
two the regular posts and splitting them into eight 
small posts, or rather, large stakes. The netting is of 
galvanii^ed wire, No. 19 gauge, and one and one- 
half inch inesh. This netting is stapled to the 
posts and stakes on the inside, or toward the field. 
Thi,"^ is of prime importance, as it will not serve 
the purpose if it is placed on the outside. The bot- 
tom of the netting is to come down to the ground. 
and the ground must be left hard, and not plowed 
to prevent burrowing or scratching the dirt from 
underneath, which can be easily done if the dirt is 
softened up. It is not at all necessary to set the net- 
ting below the ground. In the sketch are shown 
three barbed wires, with barbs two and a half inches 
apart. These wires must be placed on the out- 
side of the posts. This position is also a prime 
necessity. The lower wire is stretched just clear of 
the surface of the gound. The middle wire is one 
inch higher than the top of the netting, and the 
top wire, which is intended only as against cattle, 
is at a height suitable for the purpose. The rabbit- 
proof portion is comprised in the netting and the 
two lower wires. Hence, if cattle are not feared, 
and rabbits are the only foe, the top wire can be 
dispensed with, and the posts can be all short with 
a greater proportion of stakes, having only enough 
stout posts to stand the strain of the wires. The 
dieory of this construction is that a rabbit can only 
pass the fence over the top or under the bottom of 
the netting, and this is effectually prevented by the 
barbed wires, which tear the animal if it attempts 
either to leap or climb over or to scratch under. 

Smears Distasteful to Rabbits. — Where 
the expense of a fence can not be assumed, 
measurable protection can be had by sprin- 
kling the leaves or smearing the stems of 
plants with substances distasteful to the 
animals, which are quite dainty in this 
respect. Commercial aloes, one pound to 
four gallons of water, both sprinkled on 
leaves and painted on the bark, gives a bit- 
ter taste, which repels rabbits. A tea made 
by steeping quassia chips is said to pro- 
duce the same effect. Rancid grease, liquid 
manure, putrescent flesh or blood, have been 



How to Cirow Them 



411 



Ciophers 



approved as a daub tor tree- truiik>. but 
the efficacy is only of limited duration. 

Rabbit Poison. — Pieces of watermelon, 
cantaloupe, or other vegetable of which they 
are very fond, may be poisoned with strychnine 
and then scattered around the orchard. 
Rabbits will not touch the bark as long as 
they can find this bait, and one meal i,i 
effective, for the rabbit never gets far 
away from it. The same results can be ob- 
tained by the following mixture. To one 
hundred pounds of wheat take nine gallon-. 



a few graui> 
eacli hole : 



should be placed in 



Take strychnine, one onnce; cyanide of potassinm. 
line and one-half ounces; eggs, one dozen; honey, 
one pint ; vinegar, one and one-half pints ; wheat or 
harley, thirty pounds. Dissolve strychnine in the 
vinegar; and yon will have to pulverize it in the 
vinegar, or it will gather into a hinip. See that it 
is all dissolved. Dissolve tlie cyanide of potassium 
in a little water. Beat the eggs. Mix all the in- 
gredients together thoroughly before adding to tlie 
l)arley. Let it stand twenty-four hours, mixing often. 
Spread to dry before using, as it will mold if put 
awav wet. 




A r.ibbit-rroot fence in successful use in ilic San Jcaguin Vaile 



of water and one pound of phosphorus, 
one pound of sugar, and one ounce of oil of 
rhodium. Heat the water, to boiling point 
and let it stand all night. Next morning stir 
in flour sufficient to make a sort of paste. 
The rabbits eat it with avidity if scattered 
about. 

Another preparation is half a teaspoonful 
of powdered strychnine, two teaspoonfuls of fine 
salt, and four of granulated sugar. Put all 
in a tin box and shake vvell. Pour in small 
heaps on a board. It hardens into a solid 
mass. They lick it for the salt, and the 
sugar disguises the ])oison, which kills great 
numbers. 

GROUND-SQUIRRELS. 

Ground-squirrels are poisoned by the 
use of the poisoned wheats which are sold 
in the markets, or by use of bisulphide of 
carbon, or "smokers," which are arranged 
to force smoke into the holes. A small 
(juantity of bisulphide of carbon poured 
into the hole, and the hole closed with dirt, 
is probably the most effective squirrel killer, 
when the ground is wet, so that the vapor 
is held in the burrow. Smokers are also 
most effective when the soil is moist. When 
the ground is dry, poison is the best means 
of reducing squirrels. The following is an 
exceedingly effective preparation, of which 



To keep scjuirrels frcjui gnawing fruit 
trees, or climbing and getting the fruit, 
tying a newspaper around the trunk of the 
tree, letting the |)aper extend out four 
inches at the upper edges, is said to 
be effective. The rattle of the paper when 
the squirrels attempt to get over it will 
frighten them. 

GOPHERS. 

Gophers can often be destroyed by the use of 
poisoned wheat, especially prepared with 
a little oil of rhodium, which seems to be 
very attractive to all rodents. Pieces of 
fruits or vegetable, or the succulent stems 
of alfalfa, into which a few grains of strych- 
nine have been inserted by making a cut 
with a knife-blade and then squeezing it 
together again, are also handy conveyors of 
death to gophers. There are two ways to 
put poisoned materials into a gopher runway. 
One is to look for fresh open holes and 
put in the poison as far as possible with a 
long-handled spoon ; another is to take a 
round, pointed stick and shove it into the 
ground near the gopher mounds until it 
strikes their runway, then drop in the poison- 
ed bait. Close up the hole with some grass ; 
level down mounds, so that if the poison does 
not kill all the gophers, you will soon dis 
cover their new mounds. If there are manv 



Destructive Birds 



412 



California Fruits : 



mounds, put the poison in a number of 
places. 

Bisulphide of carbon is also successfully 
used in killing gophers, while the ground is 
wet, using an injector which is furnished 
with the poison to force the vapor through 
the long burrows. 

Trapping Gophers. — Some are very suc- 
cessful in using gopher traps, of which there 
are several styles sold. Gophers come to 
the surface in the night, and generally close 
their holes soon after daybreak. They 
frequently emerge again about noon, and a 
third time late in the afternoon. It is best 
to set the trap in an open hole ; still, the 
holes may be opened if the dirt is still fresh, 
with a good prospect of the gopher's return. 
Therefore, the trapper may make his rounds 
three times a day, as above indicated. Care 
should be exercised in preparing the hole 
for the insertion of the trap, a straight hole 
for a distance of at least ten inches, with 
no lateral branches, otherwise the gopher in 
pushing out the dirt will likely enough thrust 
the trap to one side, cover it up, or spring 
it, without being exposed to its grasp. The 
trapper should be supplied with at least two 
varieties of traps — one for the larger go- 
phers, and the other for the smaller ones. 
The common iron gopher trap, which springs 
downward, is excellent for the former, and 
the small wire trap, which springs upward, 
is generally successful with the latter. The 
size of the hole is indicative of the size of 
the gopher. Either trap should be inserted 
nearly its full length into the hole, pressed 
down firmly, and a little dirt piled at the 
outer end to prevent its being easily pushed 
out. After the trap is set, it is well to 
cover the opening with some grass or weeds. 
Sometimes the holes require a little en- 
larging, but care should be taken to make the 
fit as close as possible, that the body of the 
gopher may be kept near the center, and thus 
more exposed to the prongs of the trap. In 
the fourth place, the trapper should have 
a small spade and a little gouge-shaped in- 
strument for trimming the hole. 

Gopher Pitfalls. — If gophers are abun- 
dant, large numbers can be captured in this 
way : Dig a trench around the orchard or 
vineyard about the width of a spade and 
from fourteen to sixteen inches deep. In 
the bottom of the ditches, about a hundred 



feet apart, sink five-gallon oil cans, leaving 
the tops level with the ditch bottom. The 
gophers migrate in the night, and in at- 
tempting to come into the inclosure will 
fall into the ditch and then run along the 
bottom until they drop into the cans. Of 
course the ditch must not be wider than the 
cans. As many as fifteen live gophers have 
ben found in one can. The cats soon learn 
to help themselves out of the cans. The 
ditch must be kept clean, and if any roads 
cross the tract, set up a board at night, 
to compel the gophers to tumble in the ditch. 
This ditch should be constructed about the 
first of June, when the outside feed begins 
to dry up, and the pests rush for the culti- 
vated ground. With such protection from the 
outside, and the use of poison and traps 
inside, the trees and vines can be saved. 

DESTRUCTIVE BIRDS. 

Fruit growers generally appreciate the 
value of insectivorous birds, but there are 
feathered pests which do such ruinous work 
in disbudding the trees in spring-time, and 
in destroying ripe fruit, that protective meas- 
ures have to be adopted against them. The 
so-called "California linnet," which is not a 
linnet, but a finch (Carpodacus frontalis), 
a persistent destroyer of buds, and the 
English sparrow, infamous the world over, 
are probably the most grievous pests, though 
there are other destructive birds, including 
the beautiful California quail, which is 
protected bv law, and yet must be destroyed 
in some parts of the State or the grape crop 
must be abandoned. 

For the killing of the smaller birds 
poison is usually employed, and it is best 
administered in water. Poisoned water made 
of one-eighth ounce of strychnine to three 
gallons of water and placed in shallow tin 
pans in the trees, has been widely approved. 
Cutting oranges in halves, spreading strych- 
nine over the cut surface and empaling the 
half oranges on twigs high up in the apricot 
trees, has destroyed hundreds of linnets 
Some advocate the use of the shotgun, No. 
30 caliber, with a small charge of good powder 
and No. 10 shot. As many as five hundred 
linnets have been killed in two days. The 
advantage of this plan is that one kills 
linnets and not other birds, while poison 
kills both friends and foes. 



How to Grow Them 



413 



Wind and Frosts 



CHAPTER XLIIl. 



PROTECTION FROM WIND AND FROSTS. 



Tl UJL'GH tile climate of California renders 
unnecessary the protection against rigor- 
ous weather which fruit growers in some othei 
parts of the world have to provide, there is 
often advantage in securing shelter from 
winds and protection from late frosts. 

The general subject of forest planting in 
California, and the effect of preservation and 
extension of our forest area upon our fruit 
industries, has received the attention of our 
best-informed growers. The planting of 
shelter belts at intervals across our broad 
valleys at right angles to the courses of pre- 
vailing or most violent winds, has also been 
urged with great force. These greater enter- 
prises and projects are beyond the scope of 
this treatise. It is rather concerning the 
planting of trees to shelter individual posses- 
sions that a few suggestions will be offered. 

It has been already remarked that on the 
immediate coast the successful growth ol 
fruit will sometimes be wholly dependent 
upon proper shelter from prevailing winds, 
and in regions farther from the ocean the 
topography may induce strong currents ot 
air which will illy affect trees and vines. In 
all such places the fruit grower should plant 
windbreaks, and will find himself well repaid 
for the ground they occupy, by the successful 
production on the protected area. 

In the interior valleys there is also need of 
shelter from occasional high winds which 
may visit the orchards either in summer or 
winter, and prove destructive both to trees 
and fruit. In some cases long lines of shelter- 
ing trees have been cut down because they 
affected the fruiting of orchard trees planted 
too near them, and afterwards the losses 
through lack of protection were far greater 
than would have been incurred by retaining 
them. 

What Ki.\d oi" Trick.s to Pi.a.xt. — This 
is a question concerning which there is much 
to be learned. Data is accumulating in tlie 
growth of trees planted to test their suita- 



bility, and the future planter will have more 
certain ground to proceed upon than is now 
available. Mention will be made, however, 
of a few trees, which are now most widely 
grown. 

The most widely-planted shelter tree is ihe 
Eucalyptus globulus, or Australian blue gum. 
It is a rapid grower and voracious feeder, 
and wonderful for root extension, for which 
it has been roundly abused. It is doubtful, 
however, whether we have a better tree for 
high growth, and consequent large area over 
which its shelter will be felt. It is deficient 
in undergrowth, and if a close screen is de- 
sired, the planting of eucalyptus and Monte- 
rey cypress {Cnprcssus macrocarpa) is a 
common practice. The latter also attains 
good height, but its broad, thick base fills 
the gaps between the bare stems of the gum 
trees. Another tree which has often been 
planted with the blue gum, to supply a tliick, 
low growth, is the pepper tree {Schiitus 
uiollc). It is also grown in rows by itself. 
It makes a dense head, grows rapidly, and 
flourishes without much care. Trees planted 
eighteen feet apart will soon come together 
and make a dense wall of very beautiful, 
bright, light-green foliage. The pepper is 
not only a good windbreak, but also an ex- 
cellent dust-catcher. Unlike most trees which 
are used for this purpose, it does not become 
laden with dust. The leaves are smooth 
and glossy, and therefore repel the dust 
])articles, which, stopped in their flight 
by the dense foliage of the tree, instead 
of clinging to it drop to the ground. 
The growth of the pepper tree near the coast 
is much slower than that of the Monterey 
cypress. The eucalyptus and the c)-press for 
the coast, and the eucalyptus and pepper for 
the interior valleys, make, probably, as per- 
fect a w-all of foliage all the year round as 
can be had. The blue gum is, however, some- 
what subject to frost killing, especially when 
young, and in very frosty places is objected 



Protection from Frosts 



414 



California Fruits: 



to on that account. A number of otlic-r 
species of eucalyptus are now l)eing planted, 
and are being foimd more hardy than ihc 
blue gum. The rostrala. nuiis, polyant/wma, 
aiuygdalina, z'iiniiialis and others are of tiiis 
character.* 

The Monterey pine [Piitiis irsignis) i> 
a rapid, high-growing tree, and, though a 
native of the coast, has proved itself well 
adapted to the interior valleys of the central 
portion of the State. Its foliage is dense 
for a pine, and its shelter, therefore, the more 
complete. A native white cedar ( FAbocedrus 
dccurrcns) has also been employed as a 
shelter tree in the San Joaquin Valley, and is 
commended as a rapid grower in the interior 
as on the coast. Its ability to stand drouih. 
heat and frost is said to exceed that of any 
of the conifers of the seacoast. It stands 
well in the most exposed situations, as its 
roots run very deep into the earth and it 
is claimed that it does not sap the fertility 
from the soil around its base, as with the 
blue gum. It is also said to be less sub- 
ject to frost injury than the Monterex 
cypress and pine. 

All the foregoing are evergreen trees, and 
therefore afford protection summer and winter 
alike. Of deciduous trees there are many 
which may be well employed. The California 
black walnut makes a very satisfactory 
growth both in the interior and mpoii the 
coast, and is largely used for roadside plant- 
ing. The California broad-leaved maple 
(Acer macrophylla) is very beautiful, rapi>I 
in growth, and dense in foliage, and the same 
is true of the box elder (Acer uegrundo). 
but probably both trees are especially suited 
to the coast regions. Of the poplars, the 
Carolina (Popiilus iiionilifera) is best, be- 
cause of its breadth, density of folia.ge, and 
comparative freedom from suckering. The 
locust (Robiuia pscitdacacia) is used to some 
extent, but its suckering is very objectionable. 

Quite a number of the larger-growing de- 
ciduous fruit trees are used to some extent 
along the exterior lines of orchards for the 
protection of the inclosure. The fig, the 
walnut, the chestnut, seedling almonds, and 
apricots are especially cominended for such 
use. 



*Eucalyptu.s planting has 
and our aKficultural journals 
subject. Publications can'alsc 
.Sacramento and the t^niv 
Berkeley. 



recentb- been ordel\ promoted 
are full of information on the 
be had from the State Foiester. 
■rsitv Experiment Station al 



(ikowixc, Tki-:i-:s from Seed. — Much that 
has been said in Chapter VIII will be sug- 
gestive to one who desires to grow his own 
shelter trees from seed. Trees from small 
seeds are best grown in boxes, and in many 
cases, as with eucalyptus and cypress es- 
pecially, do best when put in permanent 
place when quite small. Whether put at once 
in permanent place, or in nursery, the land 
should be deeply worked and the young 
plant well planted and cared for. 

CuLTi\ATioN OF ShElter TreEs. — If one 
desires rapid growth of shelter tree.^-, they 
should be cultivated the first few years as 
thoroughly as an orchard. Much disappoint- 
ment results from allowing roadside trees to 
shift for themselves in a hard, dry soil. 
With such treatment the root extension is 
naturally most rapid into cultivated orchard 
ground, which is undesirable. Cultivate and 
enrich the roadside, and the tree will grow 
chiefly on the waste land. At the same time 
the roadside will be prevented from produc- 
ing vast quantities of weed seed, to be blown 
over the fence, and the place will have a 
name for neatness, which is too rare even in 
Calif(irnia. 

PROTECTION FROM FROSTS. 

Much attention has been given during 
recent years to the protection of citrus fruits 
as they approach maturity, and of deciduous 
fruits as they are starting on their growth, 
from occasional fall of the mercury a few 
degrees below the freezing point. It has been 
shown by ample experience that fruits may 
escape injury by a temperature of 28 degrees 
if the ground surface is wet and the exposure 
be but of short duration. Fruit has, there- 
fore, been saved by irrigation, while that 
over dry ground has been nipped by the same 
temperature. About the same result has been 
secured by checking radiation of heat by cov- 
ering the orchard or vineyard with a cloud of 
smoke. Roth these protective measures fail 
when the temperature falls a few degrees 
below 28 degrees or when such freezing tem- 
perature is continued several hours. During 
the last fifteen years, at Riverside, systematic 
invention and trial of frost prevention ha.- 
jjroceeded, and the satisfactory results of one 
device is thus described by Mr. E. W. 
Holmes : 

Sritisfactory results have been gained by the use 
of soft coal, liinned in wire baskets su.spended under 



How to Grow Them 



415 



Uuniino- Crude Oil 



1)1- iK-twccn llic trc-LS. Wlicn twenty to forty of tliosc 
to tlie acre were used, wc occasionally raised tne 
temperature from three to five degrees. More has 
been claimed ; but this is all that I am sure has 
been achieved. However, in a section where the 
temperature would not go below twenty-five or 
twenty-six degrees for a few hours, this method 
was ample. The outfit costs about ten cents a basket, 
or four dollars an acre if forty baskets are used, and 
the coal about two and one-half dollars an acre per 
night. The objection is the labor of replenishing 
the baskets in case of their being used the second 
night, because even if kerosene is poured upon the 
kindling, it is no easy task to light four hundred 
tires with a torch. Four men will be required to do 
this in proper time. Still, this is the system more 
generally approved here, and because definite and 
certain results have been achieved through it. 

Other effective device.s are pots for hurninrv 
crude oil, stoves for burning briquettes ot 
inflammable material, etc. The best accounts 
not only of the conditions favoring the occur- 
rence of frosts, but the details of frost-fend- 
ing methods are given in the publications of 
Professor A. C Mc.Adie. U. S. \\'eather Bu- 



reau. .Merchants' Exchange. San l>"rancisco, 
which are available on application to him. 

These resources have been chiefly resorted 
to for protection of citrus fruits, the value of 
which as the crop is maturing will warrant 
the cost. With deciduous fruits thus far only 
smoke and steam clouds from burning piles 
of damp rubbish have been employed, except 
in irrigated regions where, if frost threatens 
while the ground is dry, the limited efficacy 
of running water is resorted to. There is 
ample field for farther experiment in all lines 
of frost ])revention. 

Where there is trouble from early activity 
of deciduous trees, the trees may be kept dor- 
mant for a limited time by winter spraying 
witii whitewash, which reflects heat and thus 
prevents activity. Experiment has shown 
that heat upon the aerial parts of the tree 
starts the growth ; it does not come from the 
roots as was formerly sup])osed. 




PART TEN: MISCELLANEOUS. 



How to Grow Them 



419 



The \'alue of Fruits, Etc. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 



UTILIZING OF FRUIT WASTES. 



SOME prot^ress has been recently attained 
in the secnring of horticultural by-pro- 
ducts from various kinds of fruit wastes. There 
is a considerable product of cream of tartar 
from the pomace and lees of the wineries in 
central California. In Southern California 
citric acid factories have to some extent used 
lemons rejected in packing, and some other 
by-products of citrus fruits have been secured 



The disposition of waste fruit by growers 
must, however, always lie chiefly in the line 
of feeding animals unless de-natured alcohol 
enterprises should arise to consume it at 
prices to pay something more than cost of 
handling. Refuse fresh fruits of all kinds, 
and especially refuse dried fruits have nutri- 
tive value which should not be lost. A state- 
ment of tlic value of various fruits as com- 



Comparative Value of Fruit.s, and Hay, Grains, Meals, Etc. 



lOU POIINDS KRUIT KQUIVALENT TO POUNDS OF 



is 

FRESH FRUIT.S 

Apples 84 

Oranges 33 

Pears 40 

Plums 50 

Prunes 46 

Apricots 40 

Nectarines 43 

Figs 50 

Grapes 50 

Watermelons 22 

Nutmeg Melons 19 

DRIED FRUITS 

Dried prunes 175 

Dried apricots 194 

Dried peaches 190 

Dried figs iHtJ 

Raisins 216 



20 


24 


15 


15 


17 


16 


18 


16 


13 


9 


13 


19 


23 


14 


14 


16 


15 


17 


15 


12 


8 


12 


23 


30 


17 


18 


20 


19 


20 


19 


15 


11 


15 


30 


36 


22 


24 


25 


24 


26 


24 


20 


14 


20 


27 


33 


20 


22 


23 


22 


24 


22 


18 


13 


18 


23 


29 


17 


18 


20 


19 


20 


19 


15 


11 


15 


26 


30 


19 


20 


22 


21 


23 


21 


17 


12 


17 


30 


37 


23 


24 


26 


25 


27 


25 


20 


14 


20 


30 


37 


23 


24 


26 


25 


27 


25 


20 


14 


20 


13 


16 


10 


10 


11 


11 


12 


11 


8 


6 


H 


11 


13 


8 


9 


9 


it 


10 


9 


7 


5 


7 


104 


125 


78 


82 


88 


84 


92 


84 


67 


48 


68 


115 


138 


86 


90 


97 


93 


102 


93 


74 


53 


76 


113 


135 


85 


88 


95 


91 


100 


91 


72 


51 


74 


110 


132 


83 


S5 


93 


89 


97 


89 


71 


50 


72 


128 


153 


97 


100 


108 


103 


111 


103 


82 


59 


84 



in small quantities. Vinegar from wine and 
cider are, of course, made here as everywhere 
in fruit coimtries. 

There has arisen also a profitable e.xport 
demand for fruit pits and apricot and peach 
pits, which formerly were burned, are now 
selling profitably — machinery for cheap e.x- 
traction of the kernels having been contrived 
by California inventors. The kernels are 
bought by agents of European manufacturers 
of oils and essences. 



pared with various cattle foods has been pre- 
]iared by Prof. M. E. JaflPa, of the University 
Experiment Station, in the table upon the 
next page. 

A good average of the pitted fresh fruits 
is represented by prunes. Using the equiva- 
lents in the table below for computation, it 
a]j])ears that if wheat bran costs $15 per ton, 
fresh prunes would be worth as a substitute 
$3 per ton ; likewise, if cottonseed meal is 
■selling for $21 per ton, the prune value would 



Dried Fruits as Stock Feed 



420 



California Fruits 



be about $2.75. At the market price of oat 
hay, the figure for fresh prunes should be 
nearly $3 per ton. 

The dried fruits naturally rank far above 
the fresh material as stock feed. Of the 
dried fruits represented in the table, raisins 
lead in food value; containing one and one- 
fourth to one and one-half times the nutritive 
ingredients of alfalfa and oat hays, respec- 
tively; 100 pounds of the fruit being prac- 
tically equal to the same quantity of grain, 
but to only eighty-two and fifty-nine pounds 
respectively of rice bran and cotton-seed meal. 

Dried apricots rank slightly lower than 
raisins, because they contain more water. 
Apricots are, however, of equal value as a 
feeding stuff with wheat bran and almond 
hulls about half as much as alfalfa hay, bran 
or middings. 



Prune-fed or raisin-fed pork is indeed an 
accomplished fact in California. As to the 
acceptability of the fruit diet to the hog what 
could be more pertinent and more fitting 
appendix to this treatise than this little tale? 
It is stated that Mr. Balaam, of Farmersville, 
used to have a pet pig that ran under the 
fig trees near the house. When the fruit 
began to drop, he ate figs and rested in the shade 
until he finally grew too fat to move about 
to gather the sweet morsels. By this time 
his owner became so much interested in the 
case as to carry him his regular figs three 
times daily. Gradually he grew so fat that 
his eyes closed entirely and he was blind and 
helpless. 




TOPICAL INDEX. 



INDEX. 



Acorns, edible 38 

Alkaline Soils 34 

Alligator Pear 338 

Almond, The 357 

growing from seed 60 

hulling and bleaching 358 

pollination 359 

propagation 358 

pruning 359 

situations and soils 357 

wild 38 

varieties 359 

Animals, injurious 410 

Ants, killing 402 

Apple in California 158 

aphis resistant 160 

aphis woolly 394 

drying ' 380 

exposures for 159 

gathering 162 

irrigation ., 161 

localities for 1 58 

mildew 404 

mission 39 

native crab 35 

planting, distance 160 

picking and packing 163 

pollination 1O4 

propagation 159 

pruning 160 

scab or smut 404 

second crop 1 59 

seedlings, growing 60 

shipping 163 

soils for 159 

Southern California 164 

storehouse for i6j 

summer and fall 163 

table of varieties 168 

thinning 161 

varieties 165 

when to pick 162 

winter 164 

worm 40 1 

Varieties : Iiitriiducrd. 

Alexander 165 

Baldwin 165 

Ben Davis 165 

Arkansas Beauty 167 

Arkansas Black 168 

Black Ben Davis 166 

Carolina Red June 165 

Delicious 166 

Duchess of Oldenburg 165 

Early Harvest 165 

Early Strawberry 165 

Esopus Spitzenburg 166 



Kail I'lppui 165 

Fameuse 165 

Gloria Mundi 165 

Gravenstein 165 

Hoover 165 

Hyde King 166 

Jonathan 16^1 

King of Tompkins County 165 

Lady 166 

Lawyer i65 

Langford 168 

Maiden's Blush 165 

Missouri Pippin 166 

.Xeicton Sfitzcuburg 166 

Nickajack 166 

Northern Spy 160, 166 

Ortley ' 166 

Rambo 165 

Rawlcs Janet 167 

Red Astracan 165 

Red Bietigheimer 165 

Red Pearmain 168 

Rhode Island Greening 166 

Romanite 166 

Rome Beauty 166 

Smith's Cider 166 

Snow 165 

Stark 167 

Stayman Winesap 166 

Swaar 166 

Vandevere 166 

Wagener 168 

Wealthy 168 

White Astracan 165 

White Bellf lower ' l66 

White Winter Pearmain 166 

Wiilliams Favorite t68 

Winesap 166 

Winter Banana 168 

Yellow Bellflower 166 

Yellow Transparent 168 

Yellow Newtown Pippin 167 

York Imperial 168 

Lawton 167 

V.-kRlETiES: Califoniiun. 

Cook's Seedling 167 

Marshall's Red 167 

Magoon 167 

Skinner's Seedling 167 

V.\HiETiES : Crabs. 

Hyslop 167 

Large Red Siberian 167 

Large Yellow Siberian 167 

Montreal Beauty .'.167 

Transcendant 167 

Whitney's 167 



Page 

Ai)ricut 170 

climatic requirements 171 

diseases of 175 

distances for 172 

drying 380 

exposures for 171 

growing seedlings 61 

irrigation 175 

localities for 170 

mission 39 

old trees 170 

on almond root 172 

planting 172 

pruning 173 

shot-hole fungus 175 

stocks and soils for 172 

table of varieties 176 

thinning 174 

Varieties: Introduced. 

Bergetti 177 

Blenheim 177 

Earh- Golden 176 

Early Moorpark 177 

Hemskirke 177 

Large Early 177 

Large Early Montgamet 176 

Luizet 176 

Moorpark 177 

Oullin's Early 176 

Peach 177 

Royal 176 

Shipley I77 

St. Ambroise 177 

Varieties: Califoniian. 

Englehardt 1/8 

Newcastle i77 

Routier's Peach I77 

Spark's Maminoth 178 

Tilton 178 

Wiggins' Seedling 176 

Army Worms 38S 

Atmospheric humidity 25 

Banana, The 333 

Barberry, native 37 

Bear berry 37 

Berries and currants 343 

Birds, poisoning 410 

Blackberry, The 343 

cultivation 344 

Blasting for planting 81 

distances for 344 

longevity of 345 

propagation 344 

pruning 344 

wild 36 

Varieties: Introduced. 

Crandall's Early 345 

Evergreen 346 

Kittatinny 345 

Lawton 345 

Wilson MS 



Page 
Varieties: i'alifornian. 

Himalaya 34*^ 

IVIammotli Z4> 

Borers 88, 400 

Bones, treatment of 1 1/ 

Bordeaux Mixture 404 

Budding, common method 64 

June 70 

over old trees 71 

spring 66 

Bud, cutting to a 103 

Buds, dormant 7° 

Buffalo berry i7 

Burbank's varieties 

i5S> 219. 220. 224, 225, 351 

Cactus fruits 38, 338 

Canned fruit product 373 

Canker worms 388 

Canning industry 373 

Caterpillars 388, 390 

Chain for hexoganal laying out 80 

Chamisal and chaparral S3 

Charcoal making S6 

Cherimoyer 333 

Cherry 179 

delayed fruiting of 180 

distances for 182 

exposures for 181 

gum disease 184 

grafting, the 183 

localities for I79 

moisture requirements 180 

old trees I79 

pests and diseases 184 

pruning the 182 

seedlings growing 61 

slug 390 

soils for the 180 

stocks for the 180, 181 

table of varieties 185 

wild 36 

Varieties : Introdticed. 

American Amber 186 

American Heart 186 

Arch Duke 186 

Baumann's May 185 

Belle d'Orleans 185 

Belle Magnifique 186 

Black Eagle 186 

Black Tartarian 186 

Burr's Seedling 186 

Cleveland Bigarreau 186 

Coe's Transparent 1S6 

Early Lamaurie 185 

Early Purple Guigne 185 

Early Richmond 186 

Early White Heart 186 

Elton 186 

English Morello 186 

Eugenie 186 

Governor Wood 186 



425 



Pace 

Guigne Marbree 185 

Guigne Noir Luisante 186 

Knight's Early Black 186 

Late Duke 1S6 

May Duke 186 

Monstrueuse dc Mesel 186 

Napoleon Bigarreau 186 

Oxheart 186 

Pontiac 186 

Reine Hortense 186 

Rockport Bigarreau 186 

Royal Ann 186 

Schmidt's Bigarreau 186 

Tradescant's Black Heart 186 

Werder's Early Black 186 

White Tartarian 186 

Yellow Spanish 186 

Varieties : Pacific Coast. 

Andrews 187 

Bing 187 

Black Republican 226 

California Advance 187 

Centennial 187 

Lambert 187 

Lewelling 186 

Nonpareil 187 

Oregon 187 

Chain for laying off 80 

Chestnut, The 360 

seedlings 61 

wild 38 

Choco or Cavota 3^4 

Citron, The " 3^28 

Clearing land for fruit 53 

brushy 53, 55 

cost of 54 

grading 57 

steam puller 55 

stump puller 55 

with powder 55 

time to cut to kill 56 

Climate, divisions of California 18 

of California, characteristics of. . . . 

:■•■•. 17, 26 

of California, why mild 18 

foot-hill ' 21 

mountain 21 

coast ig 

vallej' 20 

value of 23, 27 

Cloudiness, east and west 25 

Coast pests and diseases 20 

Codlin moth 401 

Composting 119 

Corner, to find true 77 

Cranberries 347 

wild 37 

Crops between trees or vines 109 

Crystallizing fruit 374 

Cultivation 107 

hillside ni 



I'aKe 

methods of no 

purposes of 107 

shallow, results of 108 

summer 113 

to retain moisture 108 

without plowing 113 

Currants 347 

culture of 348 

regions for 347 

varieties grown 348 

wild 37 

Custard apple 333 

Cutworms 388 

Cuttings, fruit trees from 62 

Dates 265 

at the missions 265 

bearing age of 268 

bearing in Solano County 265 

blooming of 268 

first fruit 265 

from seed 266 

from suckers 268 

propagation of 266 

requirements of 266 

transplanting 268 

Dewberry 347 

Diabroticas 403 

Die-back 408 

Dormant buds 70 

Drainage desirable 57 

Dried fruits (see fruits) 374 

boxes for 380 

covering 377 

cutting sheds 378 

dipping 380 

drying floors 377 

grading and cleaning 378 

packing 380 

product of 375 

sulphuring 378 

sweating 379 

trays for ^yy 

worm 380 

Elderberries 36 

Evaporated Fruits 375 

Evaporator, sunshine 378 

Fertilizers in California 115 

caution in use of 121 

for trees and vines 116 

methods of applying 121 

value of green 122 

when necessary T15 

sources of nitrogen 118 

sources of pho.sphoric acid 117 

sources of potash i iS 

Feijoa Sellowiana 33s 

Fig ?6^ 

bearing age 274 

Inidding 270 

caprification 275 

drying 380 



Pane 

foes of 2/6 

for pigs 420 

from cuttings 270 

from seeds 273 

grafting 271. 272 

mission 39 

planting and pruning 273 

regions for 269 

size of old trees 260 

soils for 269, 270 

VarjetiEs : 

Adriatic 270 

Agen 276 

Angelique 276 

Bardajic 276 

Ballona 276 

Black Bulletin 276 

Black Smyrna 276 

Bourjassotte 276 

Brown Turkey 276 

Brunswick 277 

Calimyrna 278 

Celeste Blue 277 

Celeste Wliite 277 

Checker Injur 277 

Col. de Signora 277 

Dauphine 2T/ 

Doree 277 

Dottato 277 

Drap d'or 277 

Du Roi 277 

Early Violet 277 

(ienoa White 277 

Gentile 277 

Crosse Grise Bifere 277 

Hirtu du Japon 277 

Ischia. Black 277 

Tschia, White 277 

Kassaba 277 

Ladaro 277 

Magdalen .• 277 

Marseillaise 277 

Mission 277 

Monaco Bianco 277 

Mouissouna 277 

Pacific White 277 

Pastiliere 278 

Ronde Noire 278 

Ronde Violette 278 

Rose Blanche 278 

Roval Vineyard 278 

San Pedro, White 278 

San Pedro, Black 278 

Smyrna 278 

Verdal, Round 278 

Verdal Longue 278 

White Endich 278 

Zimitza 278 

Filbert growing 360 

wild 38 

Frosts, protection from 414 



l''ruit cultivation 107 

Fruit gardens, early 45 

Fruit industries, infiuence of 47 

Fruit industries, outlook of 48 

Fruit interest, extent of 47 

Fruit thinning 104 

Fruit tree acreage 47 

I'ruit products, value of 47 

Fruits, crystallizing 374 

drying 374 

drying floors 377 

graders 378 

grafted, first in California 42 

locations for ig 

value as stock food 419 

Fruit shipments, eastern 44. 45. 46 

Fruit trees, dwarf 43 

Fruits, commercial varieties 155 

I'ruits, locations for 19 

Fruits, native 35 

Goat nut, or jajoba 38 

Gooseberry, The 348 

culture of 348 

requirements of 349 

Varieties : Introduced. 

Berkeley 349 

Champion 349 

Columbus 349 

Downing 349 

Houghton 349 

wild 37 

(iophers, killing 411 

pitfall for 412 

trapping 412 

Grafting 67 

bark 67. 272 

cleft 67 

root 69 

side 69 

top 71 

whip 6g 

wax for 67 72 

waxed bands 68 

Graft, time to 72 

Grafts, planting out 69 

Granadiila 335 

Grape, area of 231 

budding 236 

conditions of ripening 24 

cutting grafts 241 

dibbles for planting 244 

diseases of 253 

distance 242 

from cuttings 2.33, 234 

from layers 233 

from seed 233 

frost injuries 253 

grafting 236, 237, 238, 239, 242 

insects 392 

industry 231 

length of season 232 



mildew 

number per acre 

planting devices 

planting in rows 

products 46. 

pruning 245. 246, 

pruning, long 

pruning, short 

resistant 

rooting in nursery 235. 240, 

soils for ■ 

stakes, twine, etc 

suckering 

sulphuring 

summer pnming 247. 

syrup 

trellising 

varieties 

wild 

wine, varieties of 

Varieties: Introduced. 

Almeria 

Black Corinth 

Black Cornichon . . . 

Black Ferrara 

Black Hamburg 

Black Malvoisc 

Black Morocco 

Black Muscat 

Canon Hall Muscat 

Chasselas de FontaiuL-bleau 

Chasselas Rose 

Chasselas Victorin 

Cinsaut . . , 

Early Black JuK 

Early Madeleim- 

Emperor 

Feher Szagos 

Flame Tokay 

Golden Chassel.i-^ . . 

Gros Colman . . . 

Huasco Muscat . . 

Larga Bloom . 

Luglienga 

Mission .i9. 

Moscatello Fino 

Muscat of Alexandria 

Muscatel 

Muscatel Gordo Blanco 

Muscat Frontignan 

Palomino 

Purple Cornichon 

Purple Damascus 

Rose of Peru 

Sabalskanski 

Swcctiuatcr 

Sultana 

Sultanina 

Thompson's Seedless 

Verdal 

White Cliampion 



2S7 
257 
257 
258 
25S 

2^S 
250 
257 
2=18 
258 
25« 
2SS 



I'aue 

Whue Cornichon 258 

White July 256 

White Malaga 258 

White Tokay 259 

V'ariETiES : Calif ornian. 

Isabella Regia 250, 260 

Varieties: Wine. 

Alicante Bouschct 260 

Beba 260 

Beclan 261 

Blue Portuguese 261 

Boal 260 

Burger 260 

Cabernet Sauvignon 261 

Columhar 261 

Franken Riesling 261 

Grenache 260 

Johannisberg Riesling 261 

Lagrain 260 

Pettle Sirah 261 

Sauvignon Blanc 25l 

St. Macaire 260 

Tinta Madeira .260 

Valdepenyas . 260 

Vernaccia Sarda 260 

West's White Proliiic 260 

Grasshoppers, killing i<)2 

Growing season, long 26 

Guava, The .IV^ 

Varieties : Discussed 

Strawberry . . 335. 

Lemon . 335 

Gummosis .408 

Gypsum, uses of 118 

Hard-pan, breaking up 81 

Heat, deficient on coast 19 

importance of 23 

summer, records of 24 

Heeling in young trees 84 

Hexagonal planting 78 

Hillside, rows on 77 

use of triangle on 80 

Huckleberries, wild 37 

Humidity, atmospheric 25 

deficient 27 

east and west .26 

excessive .27 

Insects, injurious 387 

Irrigation 124 

distributing manure by 121 

ditches 140. 146 

drainage and 1 .=> i 

evils of excessive 125 

flooding 133 

for citrus fruits 126. 129 

for deciduous fruits 127, 129 

llumc building for 144 

liillside J40 

how much 1 25 

in early days 44 

in basins 137 



Page 

in furrows 138 

leveling for 57 

locating contour lines 141 

manure with irrigation water 121 

manuria value of 121 

methods of i33 

nursery 63 

objections answered 124 

relation to cultivation 131, I33 

relation to rainfall 128 

relation to soil 129 

relation to tillage 130 

reservoirs, small 14" 

running ditches for I47 

subirrigation 150 

suggestions for 150 

summer 133 

taken from ditches 140 

wells and pumps for 149 

wheels for 148 

when desirable 124. 132 

winter 132 

Jajoba 38 

Jujube of commerce 3i6 

Jujube, native 38 

Kai Apple 34° 

Laying out land for fruit 74 

Leaf lice 39i 

Lemon, The 321 

curing 325 

packing 330 

planting and pruning 323 

propagation 322 

situations and soils for 321 

Varieties: Introduced. 

Eureka 327 

Lisbon 327 

Villa Franca 327 

Lemon berrv 38 

Lice, leaf 3Qi 

Lime, The 327 

Varieties: Introduced. 

Mexican 328 

Imperial 328 

Lime, uses of 112 

Loganberry 359 

Loquat. The 336 

Varieties ; Calif ornian. 

Advance 336 

Blush 336 

Commercial 336 

Pineapple 336 

Premier .336 

Victor 33C> 

Manure, care of 119 

green 122 

sheep, use of 120, 121 

Manuring at planting 87 

Manzanita berries 37 

Map of orchard and vineyard 88 

Marls 118 



Page 

Mealy bugs 398 

Melon shrub 338 

Melon tree 338 

Mildew 404 

Mission fruits 39 

Moisture lost by weed growth 108 

retained by cultivation 107 

Morning Glory, killing 114 

Moss, removing 405 

Mulberry, The 349 

Mulching, after planting 88 

Mulching as substitute for cultivation 

88 

Nectarine '202 

compared with peach 202 

dried 202, 381 

future of 203 

Varieties: Introduced. 

Advance 203 

Boston 203 

Downton 203 

Early Newington 203 

Hardwicke 203 

Humboldt 203 

Lord Napier 203 

New White 203 

Stanwick 203 

Nitrogen for fruits 118 

Nursery 58 

budding and grafting 66. 67 

classes of nursery stock 70 

growing seedlings 59 

imported seedlings 62 

irrigation 63 

laying out and planting 63 

pruning in 70 

selection of site for 58, 59 

soil, preparation of 58. 59 

soil, proper for 58 

trees, ages of 70 

trees, digging 84 

trees, disinfecting 403 

trees, selecting 83 

when to plant 85 

Nuts growing in California 357 

growing from seed 61 

wild 38 

Olives 279 

at old missions 39 

budding 281 

canning 289 

climate for 279 

from cuttings 280 

from seed 280 

grafting 282 

localities for 279 

oil making 279, 286, 293 

oil yield of varieties 293 

planting 283 

preferred varieties 289 

pruning 283 



Page 

|)ickling 279. 288 

small cuttings 281 

soils for 279 

truncheons 280 

twig borer 400 

wild 38 

Varieties: Introduced. 

Ascolano 290, 292 

Atroviolacea 291 

Columbella 290, 292 

Gordal 291 

Lucques 290, 292 

Manzanillo 290. 291 

Mission 290 

Nevadillo Blanco 290, 292 

Oblonga 290 

Oblitza 290, 292 

Pendulina 290, 292 

Pendoulier 291 

Picholine d' Aix 290 

Picholine de ot. Chamas 290 

Polymorpha 292 

Redding Picholine 290 

Rubra 290, 291 

Sevillano 290, 292 

Uvaria 290, 291 

Orchard land, preparation of 81 

laying out in squares 75 

alternating squares 75 

double squares 75 

measure and sight 7(1 

measuring wire 76 

quincunx planting 77 

time for planting 85 

Orange 294 

all the year from California 295 

budding and grafting 308 

California regions discussed . .295, 297 

conditions for citrus fruits 301 

diseases 316 

distances for 310 

from cuttings 304 

from layers 304 

from seed 304 

in central California 297 

in southern California 295 

mission 39 

nu rsery 307 

packing 329 

planting in orchard 310 

product 296 

pruning 312 

ripening first at the north 303 

seedlings, care of 308 

situation and soils for 303 

superiority of semi-tropical 204 

transplanting 310 

world's industry 294 

Varieties : Discussed 

Australian Navel 317 

Bahia 317 



Golden Buckeye 317 

Golden Nugget 317 

King 318 

Kumquat 318 

St. Michael 318 

Maltese Blood 317 

Mandarin 318 

Mediterranean Sweet 318 

Paper Rind St. Michael 31S 

Riz'crsidc Xinrl 317 

Ruby 317 

Satsuma 318 

Tangerine 318 

Thompson's Navel 317 

Valencia Late 317 

Washington Navel 317 

Orchard planting 74 

Oregon grape 37 

Oso berry 36 

Pacific fruit varieties 156 

Palm nuts 38 

Peach 188 

age at planting 191 

approved lists of 196 

blooming of varieties 201 

curl-leaf 194 

diseases 405 

distance in planting 191 

dormant buds 191, 192 

drying 381 

early bearing 189 

grafting 19.) 

growing season of 26 

irrigation 193 

localities for 189 

longevity of 188 

mildew 194 

mission 39 

moth 399 

"peach almond" iqi 

pitting clings 381 

propagation 191 

pruning 97, 102, 192 

ripening of varieties 201 

root borer 400 

seedlings 60 

soils for 1 90 

stocks for 191 

table of varieties 195. ig6 

thinning 193 

Varieties: Introduced. 

Alexander 107 

Amsden 197 

Bergen's Yellow 107 

Bilyeu's Late October 20i 

Crawford's Early 197 

Crawford's Late 198 

Early Charlotte ig6 

Earlv York 19') 

Elberta 19S 

Foster 197 



PaKe 

George Fourth I97 

Globe 195 

Hale's Early igr 

Hardy Yellow Tuscany ->oo 

Heath joo 

Henrietta 200 

Honey ig7 

Indian Blood 196 

Jones' Large Early I97 

La Grange 20u 

Lemon Clingstone 19''^ 

Levy's Late 200 

Luken's Honey 19'' 

Mary's Choice 197 

Morris White 197 

Oldmixon Free I97 

Orange Clingstone 19S 

Peento i97 

Picquet's Late 200 

Red Cheek Melocoton I97 

Sal way 200 

Smock Free 200 

S"now 197 

Strawberry 197 

Steadly .' 200 

Stump the World 19*^ 

Susquehanna 19"^ 

Triumph I97 

Tuskena T97 

Wager I97 

Wheatland 19S 

Yellow St. John I07 

Varieties: Caiifontiaii. 

Albright's Cling 200 

Briggs' Red May 197 

California 20'! 

Decker 201 

Early Imperial I97 

Edward's Cling 200 

General Bidwell 200 

Cieorge's Late Cling 200 

Honest Abe 19" 

Lovell 19') 

McClish 200 

McCowan's Cling 19!' 

Muir 197 

Muir Cling 198 

McDevit's Cling 20u 

McKevilt's Cling 200 

Newball u>'^ 

Nichol's Orange Cling 19S 

Peck's Orange Cling iq8 

Persian's Cling 200 

Phillips' Cling 200 

Runvon's Orange Cling 198 

Sellers' Golden Cling 19!^ 

Staley 2on 

Stilson 198 

Wylie Cling 200 

Yellow Tuscany 200 

Peanut growing .?6o 



Pear 204 

Bartlett, why popular 205 

blight 207, 209 

characteristics in California 205 

diseases 209 

distances for the 207 

drying 38' 

dwarf 207 

for alkali soil 252 

irrigation 20S 

largest on record 208 

localities for 205 

mission 39. 4c 

on quince stock 207 

pollination 211 

propagation of 206 

pruning 207 

seedlings, growing 60 

slug 390 

soils for 206 

storing and ripening 209 

tables of varieties 210. 211 

thinning 208 

Varieties : Introduced. 

Bartlett 2 

Beurre Bosc 2 

Beurre Clairgeau 2 

Buerre d'Anjou 2 

Beurre Diel 2 

Beurre Hardy 2 

Bloodgood 2 

Clapp's Favorite 2 

Comet 2 

Dana's Hovey 2 

Dearborn's Seedling 2 

Doyenne du Comice 2 

Duchess d'Angouleme 2 

Easter Beurre 2 

Flemish Beauty 2 

Glout Morceau 2 

Harvest 2 

Howell 2 

Kieffer 2 

Lawson 2 

Louise Bonne de Jersey 2 

Madeline 2 

Onondaga 2 

Pound 2 

Seckel 2 

Souvenir du Congress 2 

Vicar of Winkfield 2 

White Dovenne 2 

Wilder Eai-ly 2 

Winter Bartlett 2 

Winter Nelis 2 

Varieties : Calif ornian 

Block's Acme 2 

P. Barry 2 

Crocker's Bartlett 2 

Winter Bartlett 2 

Pear. Alligator 3, 



Page 

Pecan, The 361 

Persimmon, Japanese 33'^ 

Persimmon. Virginian 336 

Persimmons, curing 337 

Phenomenal herry 351 

Phosphates 117 

Pineapple 337 

Pine nuts 38 

Pistachio, The 361 

Planting, conditions favoring 85 

bar for setting 82 

cutting back after 89 

depth of 87 

digging holes for 82 

laying off for 74 

mulching 88 

operation of 83, 85 

preparing land for 74, 81 

speed in 86 

time for 85 

use of manure 87 

use of water 87 

Plowing, devices for in 

orchard and vineyard 1 1 1 

on hillside in 

to break hard-pan 1 1 1 

Plow, laying off with 74 

Pliuns and prunes 213 

California false 36 

confusion in names 213, 218 

definition of a prune 213 

drying 381 

errors in planting 188 

from the root 21 j 

in southern California 214 

length of season 213 

localities for 213 

mission 39 

myrobalan 214 

planting / 215 

pollination 221 

propagation 215 

pruning the 216 

seedlings 60 

stocks and soils 214 

table of varieties 222 

wild 35 

Varieties : Introduced. 

Abundance 222 

Agen, Prune d' 225 

Bavay's Green Gage 225 

Blood 223 

Bradshaw 223 

Bulgarian 225 

Burbank 223 

Chabot 222 

Columbia 223 

Coe's Golden Drop 225 

Coe's Late Red 225 

Damson 223 

Diamond 222 



I'aKC 

Duane's Purple 223 

Fellenberg 225 

German prune 223 

Grand Duke 222 

Green Gage 223 

Grossc Prune d' Ai^cn. . .219,224, 275 

Hale 222 

Hungarian prune 224 

Ickworth Imperatrice 225 

Imperial Epineuse 224 

1 mperial Gage 223 

Italian prune 277 

Jefferson 223 

Kelsey Japan 223 

Peach 223 

Petite Prune d' Agen . . .219, 225, 276 

Pond's Seedling 224 

Prune d'Agen 219, 225 

Prunus Simoni 222 

Quackenbos 224 

Red June . . . . ? 222 

Red Egg 223 

Red Magnuin Bonum 223 

Robe de Sergeant 224, 22.S 

Ro.val Hative 223 

Satsunia 223 

Simon 222 

Victoria 224 

Washington 223 

Yellow Egg 223 

V.\RIETIES : PaciHc Coast. 

Burbank's Creations 218, 225 

California Red 223 

Climax 222 

Clyman 222 

Formosa 225 

Giant 224 

Golden Prune 225 

Santa Rosa 225 

Silver prune 225 

Splendor 224 

Sugar prune 224 

Tragedy prune 222 

Plumcot, The 219 

Pomcgran;itc. The 337 

Pomelo 319 

Wlickson 223 

Varieties : 

Imperial 320 

Marsh Seedless 320 

Nectar 320 

Triumph 320 

Packing 33' 

Potash 117 

Prickly Pear 38, 338 

Prune curing 382 

Pruning 90 

Bearing Trec^ 57 

California style 92 

effects of 91 

gathering bnish 104 



Page 

influenced bj' location 92 

low, advantages of 90 

nursery 70 

prunings as fertilizer 120 

purposes of 90 

saws, California 103 

times for 99 

tools 103 

to renew old trees loi 

vase form, securing 93, 94 

wounds, covering 103 

Quince ' 226 

demand for 226 

propagation 226 

pruning 226 

soils for 226 

Varietiess Introduced 

Apple 227 

Champion 227 ' 

Chinese ^ 227 

Orange 227 

Portugal 227 

Rea's Mammoth 227 

Smyrna 227 

Varieties : Calif ornian. 

Pineapple 227 

West's Mammoth 227 

Quincunx planting 77 

Rabbit fences 411 

Rabbits, destroying 410 

poisons for 411 

smears for 410 

Rainfall, records of ig 

Raisin making 45, 382 

Raspberry, The 349 

black-caps 350 

culture of 349 

hybrids 3S0 

pruning 350 

varieties, popular 350 

wild 36 

Red Spider 393 

Root rot 405 

Root-knots 408 

Russian introduction of fruits . . .41, 408 

Salal 37 

Salmon berry 36 

Scale Insects 395 

black .. 397 

brown apricot 397 

cottony cushion 398 

pear 396 

orange, red 396 

orange, soft 397 

oyster shell 396 

rose and berry 396 

San Jose 395 

remedies for 399 

Salmon berry 136 

Sapota. white 339 

Scions, care of 68 



Pace 

selection of 68 

Sea Fig 38 

Seed, growing trees from 60 

Seedlings, imported 60 

Septuple laying off 78 

Service Berry 38 

Small fruits 343 

Soils for fruits 28 

adobe 33 

alkali 34 

alluvial 32 

bed-rock or hard-pan 33 

characteristics of California 29 

classification of .'30 

clay , 32 

defective 33 

desert 31 

examination of 34 

granitic 31 

loams 30 

mesa 31 

plains 31 

red 31 

river bottom 32 

sedimentary or silty 32 

shallow, blasting 81 

Sour sap 407 

Spider, red 393 

Squares, laying off in 75 

Squirrels, destroying 411 

Strawberry 351 

care of 353 

continuous bearing 354 

irrigating 353 

laying out for 352 

planting 353 

propagation 352 

situations and soils 351 

varieties, popular 354 

wild 37, 354 

Strawberry tree 338 

Sunburn, protection from 73, 88, 400 

Sunlight, value of direct 24 

Sunshine, evaporating 375 

Sunshine, records of 25 

Temperature, lowest 23 

Temperature, records of 19 

Thinning fruit 104 

Tomato tree 339 

Toyon 38 

Trees, activity and rest of 22 

heeling in 84 

selecting 83 

Tree-setters 82, 83 

Triangle for laying out 80 

Tuna fruit 338 

Tussock moth 389 

Varieties: Tabular shoiving of ...157 

Vine hoppers 391 

Walnut, black 38 

Walnut. English 361 



433 



Page 

bacteriosis or blight 406, 409 

bleaching 30/ 

blossoms of 307 

budding 302 

culture and soils 302 

gathering and drying 307 

grafting ■ •■ -302 

growing seedlings 01. 304 

propagation and planting 362, 300 

pruning 307 

Varieties : 

Common or Los Angeles 300 

Concord 368 

Franquette 3o8 

French varieties 3o8 

Japanese 309 

Kaghazi 309 



Page 

Santa Rosa 368 

Mayette 308 

Soft Shell 368 

Weed killing by cultivation 114 

Weeds, evaporation by 108 

Whitewash against sunburn 73. 88 

Wild fruits of California 35 

Windbreaks 4i3 

trees for 4I3 

Wine grapes 200 

Winery refuse as manure 120 

Winter-killing, unknown 23 

Wire, measuring 70 

Wooly aphis 394 

Wounds, covering i03 

Yellow jackets, killing 402 



CEC i? »9°3 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




